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SALAMMBO 

A Story of Ancient Carthage 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Edited by 

%£)ORA KNOWLTON ^RANOU S 


NEW YORK 

BRENTANO’S 

1919 






Copyright, 1919 
By BRENTANO’S 


(r\AuoiEX. T .£D n.OM 

^ ctm*s 

DEC 16 ra# 


* 



>•» J?' 


PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. 


Mfli 1 \2 i bi y 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Feast i 

II At Sicca 23 

III Salammbo 4 8 

IV Beneath the Walls of Carthage 58 

V Tanit! 80 

VI Hanno 9 8 

VII Hamilcar Barca . 122 

VIII The Battle of the Macar 168 

IX The Campaign 191 

X The Serpent 209 

XI In the Tent 224 

XII The Aqueduct 247 

XIII Moloch 270 

XIV The Pass of the Battle-Axe 314 

XV Matho 359 


Appendix: The Flaubert Sainte-Beuve Controversy 371 



SALAMMBO 


CHAPTER I 

THE FEAST 

I T was in Hamilcar’s gardens, at Megara, on the 
outskirts of Carthage. 

The soldiers whom he had commanded in Sicily 
were celebrating with a great feast the anniversary of 
the battle of Eryx. 

The captains, wearing bronze cothurns, were seated 
in the central avenue, beneath a purple canopy fringed 
with gold, extending from the stable walls on one side 
to the first terrace of the palace on the other; while 
the majority of the common soldiers were dispersed 
under the trees. Farther on in the gardens were a 
number of flat-roofed structures, comprising wine- 
presses, wine-cellars, bakeries, warehouses, and ar- 
senals. There were also a court for elephants, pits 
for ferocious animals, and a prison for Slaves. 

The kitchens were surrounded by fig-trees ; beyond, 
a sycamore grove extended to masses of verdure, 
wherein the pomegranate shone in the midst of white 
tufts of cotton plants ; vines laden with grapes en- 
circled the branches of the pines; a field of roses 
bloomed beneath the plane trees, and here and there, 
appearing above the green grass, lilies waved grace- 
fully. The pathways were strewn with black sand 
mixed with powdered coral, and through the centre. 


2 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


from end to end of this vast park, an avenue of cypress 
trees formed a double colonnade of green obelisks. 

Hamilcar’s palace, built of yellow-spotted Numidian 
marble, of four terraced stories, towered above a 
foundation of huge courses of stone; its grand, 
straight, ebony stairway, bearing on the corner of each 
step the prow of a vanquished galley; its red doors 
quartered with black crosses, protected at the base 
from scorpions by brass grillages, and the openings 
at the top masked by the trellises of golden baguettes 
— seemed to the soldiers, in its display of barbaric 
opulence, as solemn and impenetrable as the face of 
Hamilcar. 

At daybreak the convalescents who had slept in the 
temple of Eschmoun set out to attend the feast, drag- 
ging themselves on their crutches to the gardens. 

By all the diverse pathways soldiers poured forth 
incessantly, like torrents precipitated from heights into 
a lake. Bewildered kitchen-slaves, half-naked, could 
be seen running about among the trees in confusion, 
and the startled gazelles fled in terror over the lawns. 

The sun was setting, and the perfume of the lemon- 
trees rendered even heavier and more oppressive the 
exhalations of this seething, perspiring crowd. Here, 
upon this festal occasion, men of all nations were gath- 
ered together : Ligurians, Lusitanians, Balearic war- 
riors, Negroes, and Roman fugitives. Here could be 
heard, mingled with the heavy Dorian patois, the 
Celtic syllables, rattling like battle-chariots ; and the 
Ionian terminations, clashing with the consonants of 
the desert, harsh as the yelpings of jackals. Greeks 
could be recognised by their slender figures; Egyp- 
tians by their high, square shoulders ; Cantabrians by 
their broad, muscular legs ; Carians proudly swayed 
their helmet plumes; Cappadocian archers were con- 


SALAMMBO 


3 


spicuous by the large flowers painted over their en- 
tire bodies ; and some Lydians feasted arrayed in 
women’s robes, slippers, and earrings ; others had 
daubed themselves with vermilion, resembling, as they 
moved about, animated coral statues. 

While feasting they stretched themselves out upon 
cushions, or ate as they squatted around large trays ; 
or even lay flat on their stomachs, and pulled toward 
themselves pieces of meat, which they munched, lean- 
ing on their elbows, in the pacific attitude of lions 
devouring their prey. The late comers, standing 
against the trees, looked wistfully at the low tables, 
half concealed beneath scarlet cloths, and the sumptu- 
ous repast, eagerly awaiting their turns. 

Hamilcar’s kitchens being insufficient for this occa- 
sion, the Grand Council had supplied slaves, utensils, 
and couches. Bright, huge fires blazed in the centre of 
the gardens, before which oxen were roasting, giving 
the appearance of a battle-field upon which the dead 
were being burned. On the tables were placed loaves 
of bread sprinkled with anise-seed, alternating with 
large cheeses, heavier than discs. Bowls of wine, and 
canthari filled with water, were placed by the side of 
gold filigree baskets containing flowers. 

The delight of being able at last, after prolonged 
privations, to gorge themselves at will, dilated the eyes 
of these starving warriors, and here and there a song 
burst forth. The absence of Hamilcar added to the 
freedom with which they ate, drank, and caroused. 

First came birds, covered with green sauce, served 
in red clay dishes embellished with black designs ; then 
all species of shell-fish caught on the Punic coast, fol- 
lowed by broths of barley, wheat, and beans ; and snails 
dressed with cumin, on plates of yellow amber. Later 
the tables were covered with every variety of meats: 


4 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


roasted antelopes, with their horns — peacocks in their 
plumage — whole sheep cooked in sweet wine — legs of 
camels and buffaloes — hedgehogs, with garum sauce 
— fried grasshoppers, and preserved dormice. In 
Tamrapanni wooden bowls, large pieces of fat floated 
in the midst of saffron — every dish overflowed with 
pickles, truffles, and assafoetida ; pyramids of fruit 
rolled over honey-cakes ; nor were forgotten some of 
the red-haired, plump little dogs fattened on olive- 
lees; a Carthaginian dainty which was detested by all 
other nationalities. 

Surprise at these new dishes excited the greed of 
the multitude. Gauls, with their long hair coiled up 
on the top of their heads, snatched from each other 
watermelons and lemons, which they crunched, rinds 
and all ; Negroes, who had never before seen lobsters, 
tore their faces with the red claws ; shaven-faced 
Greeks, whiter than marble, threw behind them the 
leavings from their plates, and herdsmen of Bruttium 
clothed in wolves’ skins silently devoured their por- 
tions with their faces buried in the food. 

Night fell. The canopy that had been spread over 
the cypress avenue was now withdrawn, and torches 
were lit. The wavering petroleum lights, burning in 
porphyry vases, frightened in the tops of the cedars 
the apes sacred to the moon; the terrified chatterings 
of these animals filled the soldiers with mirth. Ob- 
long flames trembled over the brazen cuirasses; all 
manner of scintillations flashed from the dishes in- 
crusted with precious gems. Bowls bordered with 
convex mirrors multiplied the reflected images, en- 
larging every object so strangely as to attract the 
attention of the soldiers, who, in astonishment, 
crowded around, gazing at themselves, or making 
grimaces to provoke the laughter of their comrades 


SALAMMBO 


5 


by the grotesque reflections. They tossed to each other 
across the tables the ivory stools and the gold spatulas. 
They swallowed, in gluttonish mouthfuls, all the Greek 
wine in the wine-skins ; the Campanian wines held 
in amphoras, and that from Cantabria, which was 
drawn from casks; as well as the jujube, cinnamon, 
and lotus wines. What was not drunk was spilled 
upon the ground, forming puddles in which the riot- 
ers would slip. In dense vapours, the fumes of the 
yiands, mixing with the heavy breaths, rose in the 
foliage. In a nameless clatter mingled the crunching 
of jaws, din of words, outburst of songs, clinking of 
cups, crashing of Campanian vases — scattered in a 
thousand fragments — and the limpid ring of large sil- 
ver plates. As their intoxication increased they re- 
called to memory more vividly the injustice of 
Carthage. 

The Republic, exhausted by the war, had permitted 
all the returning troops to gather in the city. General 
Gisco, however, had taken the precaution of sending 
them back in detachments, in order to facilitate their 
speedy payment and discharge; but the Council, be- 
lieving that they would succeed in getting these war- 
riors to consent to some compromise, had detained 
them. At present dissatisfaction was caused by the 
inability to pay them. This war debt was confused 
in the minds of the people with the three thousand 
two hundred Eubcean talents exacted by Lutatius ; 
hence these soldiers, like tire Romans, were considered 
enemies to Carthage. The Mercenaries comprehended 
this feeling, therefore their indignation burst forth in 
menaces and irruptions. Finally, they demanded a re- 
union, to celebrate one of their victories: the peace 
party yielded, hoping at the same time to revenge it- 
self upon Hamilcar, who had so strongly supported 


6 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


the war. It had been terminated contrary to his policy 
and efforts ; so much so that despairing of help from 
Carthage, he placed Gisco in command of the Mer- 
cenaries, himself continuing to march toward the 
amber country. The Council, desirous of attracting 
upon Hamilcar some of the hatred the soldiers bore 
them, appointed his palace gardens as the place for 
the festival. The excessive expense would have to be 
defrayed in greater part by Hamilcar. 

Proud of having made the Republic obey their de- 
mands on this score, the Mercenaries believed that 
they would also ultimately return to their native coun- 
tries, with the payment for their blood in the hoods 
of their cloaks. But now their hardships, seen through 
the vapours of drunkenness, seemed prodigious, and 
but poorly recompensed. They displayed their wounds, 
recounted their combats, their journeys, and the hunts 
peculiar to their various countries ; imitating the cries 
and leaps of ferocious animals. They made indecent 
wagers, immersing their heads in amphoras of wine, 
there remaining drinking like thirsty dromedaries, 
without intermission. A Lusitanian, of gigantic 
height, carrying a man upon each arm, ran across the 
tables, the while spurting out fire from his nostrils. 
Lacedemonians who had not removed their cuirasses 
leaped about with heavy strides ; others advanced like 
lewd women making obscene gestures ; some, stripped 
naked, wrestled like gladiators in the midst of the 
feast ; and a company of Greeks danced around a vase 
upon which were nymphs ; meantime a negro pounded 
lustily on a brass buckler with a beef-bone. 

Suddenly a plaintive song, strong and soft, was 
heard, rising and falling on the air like the fluttering 
wings of a wounded bird. It was the voice of the 
slaves imprisoned in the ergastulum. 


SALAMMBO 


7 


Some soldiers bounded off, bent upon liberating 
them. Presently they returned, shouting, and chasing 
before them, through the dust, a score of men, dis- 
tinguished by the paler hue of their faces. These 
slaves wore on their shaven heads little, conical-shaped, 
black felt caps; their feet were shod in wooden san- 
dals, and as they ran, their chains clattered like the iron 
felloes of a moving chariot. Thus driven, they finally 
reached the cypress avenue, where they were lost in 
the crowd that surrounded and questioned them. 

One of them stood apart from the others. Through 
his tattered tunic could be seen on his shoulders the 
weals of long gashes ; with chin lowered he looked 
suspiciously about him as he half-closed his eyelids, 
in the glare of the torches ; but when he saw that none 
of the armed men wanted to harm him, a deep sigh 
of relief escaped from his breast, and he stammered 
and mouthed, while tears bathed his face; then, sud- 
denly seizing a full cantharus by its rings, he raised 
it up on high, straight in the air, revealing chains dan- 
gling from his wrists. 

He gazed upward, still holding the cup, as he cried : 
“ All hail ! first, to thee, Baal Eschmoun, liberator, 
whom the people of my country call ^sculapius ! 
Hail ! ye, genii of the springs ! of the light ! and of the 
woods! and ye, gods, hidden beneath the mountains 
and in the caverns of the earth ! and ye strong men in 
shining armour, who have released me ! ” 

He dropped the cantharus, and told his story. His 
name was Spendius ; he had been captured by the Car- 
thaginians during the battle of the iEgatian islands. 
He spoke Greek, Ligurian, and Phoenician. Once 
more he thanked the Mercenaries, kissed their hands, 
felicitated them on their feast ; but expressed surprise 
that he did not see the golden cups of the Sacred 


8 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Legion. These cups were embellished on each of their 
six golden faces by an emerald vine, and belonged to 
a militia exclusively comprised of young patricians 
of the tallest stature. To see them was a privilege, 
considered almost a sacerdotal honour, and nothing 
in the treasury of the Republic was so coveted by the 
Mercenaries. They detested the Legion because of 
this possession, and had been known to risk their lives 
for the ineffable pleasure of merely drinking out of 
these cups. Incited by the words of the slave, the sol- 
diers demanded that the cups should be brought to 
them. The slaves said that they were deposited with 
the Syssites, companies of merchants who ate in com- 
mon; but at this hour all the members of the Syssites 
slept. 

“ Let them be wakened ! ” responded the Mer- 
cenaries. 

After another attempt, one of the slaves explained 
that the cups were locked up in a temple. 

“ Let the temple be opened ! ” replied the soldiers. 
Then the slaves trembled, avowing that veritably the 
cups were in the custody of General Gisco. They 
yelled, “ Let him bring them ! ” 

Presently Gisco appeared at the end of the garden, 
with an escort of the Sacred Legion: his ample black 
mantle was adjusted on his head by a gold mitre 
starred with precious stones; and its folds fell all 
around him, reaching down to his horse’s hoofs and 
blending in the distance with the shadows of night. 
His white beard, the radiancy of his coiffure, and his 
triple collar of wide blue plaques, which, agitated by 
the motion of his horse, struck against his breast, alone 
were visible. 

As he appeared, the soldiers saluted him with great 
cheers, crying out : “ The cups ! The cups ! ” 


SALAMMBO 


9 


He began by declaring “ that if one only considered 
their courage, they certainly merited the cups,” — at 
which the crowd fairly howled with joy. “ He knew 
it well, he who had commanded them, and had re- 
turned with the last cohort, on the last galley ! ” 

“ It is true! it is true ! .” they cried out. 

“ Nevertheless,” continued Gisco, “ the Republic 
respects the divisions of the people, their customs, 
and their religions ; at Carthage they were free. But 
the gold cups of the Sacred Legion, they were per- 
sonal property.” 

Suddenly, from beside Spendius, a Gaul darted 
across the tables, making straight for Gisco, whom 
he threatened with two naked swords. Without in- 
terrupting himself, the General struck this man over 
the head with his heavy ivory staff, felling him to the 
ground ; at this the Gauls all shrieked, and their fury 
communicating itself to the other soldiers, they turned 
upon the Legionaries. 

Gisco shrugged his shoulders as he saw his escort 
grow pale: his courage would be vain against these 
foolish, exasperated brutes ; whereas, later perhaps he 
might avenge himself by some strategy; so he made 
a sign to his guards, and they all slowly moved away. 
When under the gateway, he turned toward the Mer- 
cenaries, and cried out: “You shall repent of this!” 

The feast was resumed; but the revellers were un- 
easy; Gisco might return, and by surrounding the 
suburb which impinged on the last ramparts, crush 
them against the walls. They felt alone, despite their 
numbers; and the vast city, with its massive piles of 
stairways and lofty black mansions sleeping under 
them in the shadow, filled them with terror: but yet 
more ferocious than the city, or its people, were its 
mysterious gods. In the distance ships’ lanterns 


10 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


glided about the harbour, and lights could be seen in 
the temple of Khamoun. Their troubled thoughts re- 
verted to Hamilcar. Where was he? Why had he 
abandoned them just as peace was declared? Doubt- 
less his dissensions with the Council had been a trick 
planned for their destruction. They exasperated each 
other by the recital of their personal wrongs, and their 
insatiable hatred centred itself upon him. 

At this stage a crowd was attracted under the plane 
trees by a negro who rolled about beating the ground 
frantically with his arms and feet, his eyes fixed, his 
neck contorted, and foaming at the mouth. Some one 
cried out that the man had been poisoned; then they 
all believed themselves to be poisoned, and fell upon 
the slaves. A vertigo of destruction whirled over, this 
drunken army ; they struck at random, breaking, maim- 
ing, killing. Some, moved by diabolical impulse, 
hurled torches into the foliage ; others leaned over the 
balustrade of the lions’ pit, ruthlessly killing the ani- 
mals with arrows; and the most venturesome reck- 
lessly ran to the elephants, and sought to hew off 
their trunks and destroy their tusks. 

Meanwhile a group of Balearic slingers, to pillage 
more conveniently, had turned a corner of the palace, 
but were hindered from proceeding by a high barrier 
constructed of Indian cane. However, not to be 
daunted, they severed, by the aid of poniards, the 
leather thongs holding the hedge together. This ob- 
stacle surmounted, they found themselves under the 
fagade that looked toward Carthage, in another garden 
filled with tall vegetation. Rows of white flowers suc- 
ceeded one another, throwing shadows on the azure- 
coloured ground like trails of shooting stars. Shadowy 
bushes exhaled honey-sweet, warm odours; and the 
trunks of trees, daubed with cinnabar, resembled blood- 


SALAMMBO 


11 


stained columns. In the centre were twelve copper 
pedestals, each one supporting a large glass bowl ; the 
ruddy gleams filled and flickered confusedly in these 
hollow bowls, like enormous throbbing eye-balls. The 
soldiers carried torches as they stumbled down a deeply 
furrowed declivity. They descried a little lake, divided 
into numerous basins by partitions of blue stone. The 
water contained therein was so limpid, that the re- 
flected torch flames quivered to the very bottom, strik- 
ing on a bed of white shells and gold dust. Suddenly 
the water set up a bubbling, and luminous spangles 
glistened, as large fish, with precious stones in their 
gills, came swimming to the surface. 

The soldiers, laughing boisterously, thrust their fin- 
gers through the fishes’ gills, and carried them to the 
tables. These fish belonged to the Barca family, and 
were reputed descendants of the primordial eel-pout, 
which had hatched the mystic egg wherein was hidden 
the goddess. 

The idea of committing a sacrilege revived the glut- 
tony of the Mercenaries. They kindled fires under 
the brass vases, and entertained themselves by watch- 
ing- the beautiful fish flounder about and perish in 
the boiling water. The throng of soldiers surged for- 
ward. Fear no longer deterred them. They again 
commenced their carousal and drinking. Perfumes 
trickled down over their foreheads, falling in large 
drops, moistening their tattered tunics. They leaned 
their fists on the tables, that seemed to them to oscil- 
late like ships ; while their large, drunken eyes turned 
and roved about as though seeking to devour with 
their glances all that they had not the power to take 
away. Others walked about in the midst of the plates 
on the crimson table-covers, breaking, with wanton 
kicks, the Tyrian glass phials and the ivory benches. 


12 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Songs intermingled with the death-rattle of the at- 
tendant slaves, breathing their last amid the shattered 
cups. Still the soldiers demanded more wine, more 
meat, more gold. They shouted for women — raving 
deliriously in a hundred languages. Some believed 
themselves in the vapour baths, deceived by the fumes 
floating about them ; or even, whilst observing the 
foliage, fancied that they were engaged in hunting, 
and thus deluded, would rush violently upon their 
comrades, thinking them to be ferocious beasts. 
Steadily the torches were igniting the foliage : the fire 
spread from tree to tree, until the tall masses of ver- 
dure resembled a volcano beginning to smoke. The 
clamour redoubled, the wounded lions roared, and the 
elephants trumpeted through the darkness. 

By a single flash the palace was suddenly illuminated 
to its highest terrace ; the centre door at the top opened, 
and a woman— the daughter of Hamilcar — robed in 
black garments, appeared on the threshold. She de- 
scended down the stairway that traversed obliquely 
the third story, then the second and the first ; pausing 
on the last terrace at the top of the galley staircase, 
motionless, head drooping, looking down upon the 
soldiers. Behind her on both sides were two long pro- 
cessions of pale men, clothed in white red-fringed 
robes, hanging straight to their feet; their heads and 
eyebrows were shaven ; their hands, in which they car- 
ried enormous lyres, glittered with rings. In a shrill 
voice they sang a hymn to the divinity of Carthage. 
These were the eunuch priests of the temple of Tanit, 
often summoned by Salammbo to her palace. 

At last she descended the stairway of the galleys, 
followed by the priests ; and moved forward under the 
cypress trees, between the tables at which the captains 
were seated, who drew back slightly as they watched 


SALAMMBO 


13 


her pass. Her hair was powdered with violet dust, 
and, according to the fashion of Canaanite maidens, 
it was gathered up in the form of a tower on the 
crown of her head, making her appear still taller: 
strands of pearls fastened to her temples fell to the 
corners of her mouth — as rosy as a half-opened pome- 
granate; on her bosom she wore a collection of lu- 
minous gems, which appeared in their medley as the 
scales of a sea-eel ; her sleeveless tunic, made of a black 
tissue, was starred with red flowers, and exposed her 
bare arms, bedecked with diamonds. Between her 
ankles she wore a gold chainlet to regulate the length 
of her steps ; and her voluminous dark purple mantle, 
of an unknown fabric, trailed, making at each step a 
wide billow behind her. 

From time to time the priests played on their lyres 
subdued, almost soundless, chords. During the inter- 
vals of the music could be detected the clinking of her 
gold chainlet and the rhythmic patter of her papyrus 
sandals. No person as yet recognised her. It was 
only known that she lived in seclusion, devoted to 
pious practices. During the nights the soldiers had 
seen her between the curling smoke arising from fum- 
ing censers, kneeling before the stars, on the summit 
of the palace. 

At this moment the moon made her appear very pale, 
and something of the gods seemed to envelope her like 
a subtle mist. Her eyes seemed to penetrate far away 
beyond terrestrial space. She advanced with bent 
head, holding in her right hand a small ebony lyre. 
They heard her murmur: 

“ Dead ! all dead ! No longer will you obey my 
voice when I sit on the lake shore and throw pips of 
watermelons into your mouths ! In the depths of 
your eyes, more limpid than the drops of purling 


14 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


streams, rolled the mystery of Tanit ! ” Then she 
called her fish by their several names, which were the 
names of the months— “Siv! Sivan ! Tammouz! 
Eloul! Tischri ! Schebar!— Ah, goddess, have pity 
on me ! ” 

Without understanding her meaning, the soldiers 
crowded around her, amazed at her attire. She cast 
upon them a long, frightened look ; then, drooping her 
head to her bosom, she threw out her arms, repeating 
many times : “ What have you done ? What have you 
done? For your enjoyment bread, meat, oil, and 
malobathrum were provided from the storehouses ; I 
even had oxen brought from Hecatompylus, and sent 
hunters into the desert that you might have all sorts 
of game.” 

Her voice grew louder, her cheeks blazed, as she 
continued : “ Where, then, think you that you are now ? 
In this a conquered city, or the palace of a master? 
And what master ! Hamilcar, the Suffet, my father, 
servitor of the Baalim! Your weapons now reek with 
the blood of his slaves, when it was he who refused 
them to Lutatius! Know you of one of your own 
countries greater in the conduct of battles ? Behold ! 
the steps of our palace are laden with the trophies of 
our victories ! Go to, burn it to the ground ! I will 
take away with me the genius of our mansion — my 
black serpent — who sleeps up there in the lotus leaves ; 
for when I whistle he will follow me, and when I enter 
my galley he will glide in the wake of the vessel on 
the foam of the waves.” 

Her delicate nostrils palpitated. She crushed her 
nails against the jewels of her bosom. Her eyes be- 
came suffused as she continued : “ Alas ! Carthage ! 
lamentable city! no longer hast thou for thy defence 
the strong men of former times, who traversed be- 


SALAMMBO 


15 


yond the oceans to build in thine honour temples on 
foreign shores. All the lands have grown by thee, 
and wave with thy harvests, and the plains of the 
seas are ploughed by thine oars ! ” 

Then she began to chant the adventures of Mel- 
karth, the god of the Sidonians and founder of her 
family. She told how he had ascended the mountains 
of Ersiphonia, journeyed to Tartessus, and waged 
war against Masisabal to avenge the Queen of the 
Serpents. 

“ He pursued the female monster, whose tail un- 
dulated like a rivulet of silver over dead leaves into 
the forest ; and he came to a prairie the colour of blood, 
over which the moon shone refulgent within a pale 
circle ; and there he found women, half dragons, 
grouped around a huge fire, poised erect on their tails, 
thrusting out and curving their scarlet tongues, forked 
like fishermen’s harpoons, to the very edge of the 
flames.” 

Then, without pausing, Salammbo recounted how 
Melkarth, after vanquishing Masisabal, had put the 
decapitated head of his victim at the prow of his ship : 
“ At each surge of the waves it was immersed under 
the foam; and it was embalmed by the sun until it 
became more enduring than gold, yet tears never 
ceased flowing from the eyes, but dropped continu- 
ously into the water.” All this she chanted in old 
Canaanite dialect, which the Barbarians did not under- 
stand. 

They inquired of one another what she could be say- 
ing to them, and why she accompanied her words with 
such frightful gestures. Mounted upon the tables, 
the benches, and the branches of sycamores, with open 
mouths and outstretched necks, they endeavoured to 
grasp the vague stories that drifted before their im- 


16 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


aginations, through the obscurity of the theogonies, 
like phantoms draped in the clouds. 

Only the beardless priests understood Salammbo. 
Their shrivelled hands tremblingly clutched the strings 
of their lyres, upon which from time to time they 
struck a mournful chord ; they were more feeble than 
old women, and shivered as much from fear as with 
mystic emotion, not knowing what the soldiers might 
be tempted to do. The Barbarians noticed them not, 
for they were intent in listening to the chanting 
maiden. 

None watched her more fixedly than a young Nu- 
midian chief who sat among the captains, surrounded 
by the soldiers of his own nation. His girdle so bris- 
tled with darts that it made a projection beneath his 
wide mantle, fastened to his temples by a leather lac- 
ing; this garment divided and swung down over his 
shoulders in such a manner as to keep effectually his 
face in shadow, concealing all but his gleaming eyes. 
It was by chance that he attended this feast. His 
father, conforming to the custom adopted by kings of 
sending their sons to live in noble families in other 
dominions, in order to prepare for noble alliances, 
had sent him to abide with Barca. During the six 
months that Narr’ Havas had been in Carthage, he 
had never before seen Salammbo; and now sitting on 
his heels, his head resting against the handles of his 
javelins, he gazed at her with nostrils distended, like 
a leopard crouching in a jungle. 

At the other side of the tables was a Libyan of 
colossal stature, with short, curly black hair. He was 
unarmed, save for his military jacket, the brass plates 
of which were fraying the purple covering of the 
couch. A necklace of silver moons was entangled in 
the hairs on his breast; splashes of blood spotted his 


SALAMMBO 


17 


face; he leaned on his left elbow, with wide open 
mouth, and smiled. 

Salammbo ceased to use sacred rhythm, resorting 
successively to the various barbaric dialects, and with 
delicate subtlety seeking to soften their anger, speak- 
ing Greek to the Greeks ; then turning toward the 
Ligurians, the Campanians, and the Negroes in turn, 
till each, in listening, found in her voice the sweet- 
ness of his native tongue. 

Carried away by the memories of Carthage, she 
chanted the old battles against Rome, thus gaining 
their applause. Becoming excited by the flashing of 
the naked swords, she cried out, with open arms. Her 
lyre fell, then relapsing into silence, she pressed her 
heart with both hands, thus resting for some minutes 
with closed eyes as though to surfeit the agitation of 
all these warriors. 

Matho, the Libyan, leaned toward her ; involun- 
tarily she approached him, and moved by recognition 
of his pride, she poured out for him into a gold cup 
a long stream of wine in token of her reconciliation 
with the army. 

“ Drink ! ” she said. 

He took the proflfered cup, and was carrying it to 
his lips, when a Gaul, the same Gisco had wounded, 
slapped him across the shoulders, uttering in a jovial 
manner insinuating pleasantries in his native language. 
Spendius, who was near by, volunteered to interpret. 

“ Speak,” said Matho. 

“ The gods be with you, for you are about to be- 
come rich. When will the bridal be ? ” 

“ What bridal ? ” asked Matho. 

“ Thine ; for with us,” said the Gaul, “ when a 
woman offers drink to a warrior she proffers him her 
couch.” 


18 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Spendius had hardly interpreted before Narr’ Havas 
sprang forward, pulling from his belt a javelin, poised 
his right foot on the edge of a table, and hurled the 
weapon at Matho. The javelin sped between the cups, 
and passed through the Libyan’s arm, nailing it firmly 
to the table, with such momentum as to cause the 
shaft to vibrate in the air. Matho quickly jerked it 
out ; but, as he was weaponless, in his rage he lifted 
up the heavily laden table, and pitched it against Narr’ 
Havas. In the midst of the crowd that rushed between 
the two infuriated men, Numidians and the soldiers 
mingled so closely that they could not draw their 
swords. Matho moved forward, dealing heavy blows 
with his head. Finally, when he lifted his face to 
look about, Narr’ Havas had disappeared ; Salammbo 
had also gone. Turning his eyes toward the palace, 
he noticed that the red door near the summit, quar- 
tered with a black cross, was just closing, and he 
darted ofif toward it. He could be seen running be- 
tween the prows of the galleys, disappearing and re- 
appearing successively the length of the three stair- 
ways till he at last reached the red door ; this he threw 
himself against with all his weight, but to no purpose. 
Panting, breathless, he leaned against the wall to keep 
from falling. 

A man had followed him, and as he crossed the 
shadows — for the lights of the feast were obscured 
by an angle of the palace — he recognised Spendius. 

“ Begone ! ” he said. 

The slave, without answering, began to tear his 
tunic with his teeth ; then kneeling beside Matho he 
took hold of his arm, gently feeling in the dark to 
discover the wound. Under a ray of moonlight that 
just then gleamed between the clouds, Spendius per- 
ceived in the middle of the arm a gaping wound; he 


SALAMMBO 


19 


rolled around it the strips he had torn off from his 
tunic; but Matho irritably said: 

“ Leave me ! leave me ! ” 

“ No ! ” replied the slave, “ you delivered me from 
the ergastulum. I am yours! you are my master! 
Command me ! ” 

Keeping close against the wall, Matho made a cir- 
cuit of the terrace, listening at every step ; darting at 
intervals glances through the golden trellises into the 
silent apartments. At last he paused in despair. 

“ Listen,” said the slave. “ Do not despise me for 
my weakness ; I have lived in this palace, I can crawl 
like a viper between its walls. Come, there is in the 
Chamber of the Ancestors an ingot of gold under 
each slab, and an underground passage leading to their 
tombs.” 

“Well, what of that?” asked Matho. 

Spendius was silent. 

Standing on the terrace, an immense expanse of 
shadow spread out before them that seemed full of 
vague forms, like the gigantic billows of a black, 
petrified ocean. Toward the east a luminous bar ap- 
peared ; and to the left, the canals of Megara began to 
outline with their white sinuosities the verdant gar- 
dens. The conical roofs of the heptagonal temples, 
the stairways, the terraces, the ramparts, all became 
palely defined in the early dawn ; and surrounding the 
peninsula of Carthage a girdle of white foam curled, 
and the foam of emerald sea seemed congealing in 
the coolness of morning. In proportion as the rosy 
sky widened, the tall mansions climbing up the slope 
rose higher and massed together, like a herd of black 
goats descending the mountains. The deserted streets 
stretched out; motionless palm trees jutted beyond the 
walls ; the overflowing cisterns glistened like silver 


20 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


shields lost in the courtyards ; on the promontory of 
Hermaeum the lighthouse beacon grew dimmer. On 
the summit of the Acropolis in the cypress-groves the 
horses of Eschmaun just sensing the light, placed the 
hoofs of their forefeet upon the marble parapet, neigh- 
ing towards the rising sun. It appeared. Spendius 
lifted his arms and uttered a cry of adoration. 

All the universe seemed pulsating in a ruddy flood, 
for the god, as if rending himself, poured forth in 
fulsome rays upon Carthage the golden rain of Ins 
veins. The prows of the galleys glittered, the roof of 
Khamoun appeared ablaze, and through the open doors 
lights could be descried in the interior of the temple. 
The wheels of large chariots coming from the country 
to the city marts, rumbled over the pavements ; drome- 
daries loaded with baggage descended the slopes ; 
money-changers in the thoroughfares took down the 
weather-boards. from their shops; storks took to flight, 
and white sails fluttered, athrill with the glory of day. 

From the groves of Tanit could be heard the tam- 
bourines of the sacred courtesans; and at the point 
of Mappals the furnaces for the baking of clay coffins 
began to smoke. 

Spendius leaning over the terrace, gnashed his teeth, 
repeating, “Ah, yes, . . . yes, . . . master, I under- 
stand why you just now disdained to pillage the 
mansion.” 

Matho was aroused by the murmur of the man’s 
voice, yet he did not seem to understand. 

Spendius resumed, “ Ah, what wealth ! and the men 
who possess it have not even the weapons to protect 
it.” Then, with his right hand extended, he pointed 
out some people who were crawling on the sand out- 
side of the pier, seeking for gold dust. 

“ Look ! ” he exclaimed, “ the Republic is like those 


SALAMMBO 


21 


wretched ones grovelling on the sea-beach. She also 
plunges her greedy arms into the sea-sands, and the 
roar of the billows so fills her ears, that she hears not 
behind her the step of a master ! ” 

Drawing Matho along to the end of the terrace, the 
slave pointed out the garden wherein the sun shone 
on the soldiers’ swords that were hanging in the 
trees. 

“ But here be strong men, made reckless by hatred ; 
and they owe no allegiance to Carthage, neither fami- 
lies, nor oaths, nor gods ! ” 

Matho still leaned against the wall. Spendius drew 
nearer, continuing in a low voice : 

“ Do you comprehend me, soldier ? We shall go about 
arrayed in purple like satraps. We shall bathe in per- 
fumes. I too shall have my slaves ! Do you not weary 
of drinking camp vinegar, and of the. sound of the 
trumpets? You think to repose later, do you not? 
When they pull off your cuirass to throw your body 
to the vultures ! or possibly when leaning on a staff, 
blind, feeble, lame, you hobble about from portal to 
portal and recount to the pickle vendors and to the 
little children the tale of your youth ! Recall all the 
injustice of your chiefs, the encampments in the snow, 
the forced marches, exposure to the sun, the tyrannies 
of discipline, and the eternal threat of the cross ! After 
so much misery, a collar of honour is given to you, as 
one hangs a girdle of bells around asses’ necks to di- 
vert them on their toilsome marches and render them 
less sensible to their fatigue. A man like you, braver 
than Pyrrhus ! If you desire no more, very good ! Ah, 
but you would be happy in the great, cool halls, listen- 
ing to the sound of lyres as you repose on flowers, 
surrounded by buffoons and women ! Do not tell me 
that is impossible ! Have not the Mercenaries already 


22 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


taken possesion of Rhegium and other strong places 
in Italy? Who can hinder you? Hamilcar is absent; 
the people execrate the Rich ; Gisco has no power over 
the cowards who surround him ; but you have courage, 
the soldiers will obey you. Command them ! Carthage 
is ours ; let us fall upon it ! ” 

“ No ! ” said Matho ; “ the curse of Moloch weighs 
upon me. I felt it in her eyes, and just now I saw a 
black ram recoil in the temple ! ” then adding, as he 
looked around him : “ Where is she ? ” 

Spendius now understood that a great inquietude 
absorbed Matho, and he dared not speak again. 

Behind him the trees still smoked; and from the 
charred branches carcasses of half-burned apes tum- 
bled down from time to time among the dishes ; 
drunken soldiers with open mouths snored by the side 
of corpses; and those who were awake lowered their 
heads, dazzled by the glare of the sun. The trampled 
earth was covered with bloody pools. The elephants 
swayed their bleeding trunks between the pickets of 
their paddocks. In the open granaries could be seen 
sacks of wheat scattered about, and under the gate- 
ways a compact line of chariots heaped up by the Bar- 
barians ; in the cedars, peacocks perched, spreading 
their tails and beginning to utter their cry. 

Matho’s immobility astonished Spendius. He was 
now even paler than before, and his eyes fixedly fol- 
lowed some object apparently visible on the horizon, 
as he leaned with both hands on the edge of the terrace, 
Spendius also, leaning over, discovered what thus oc- 
cupied him. In the distance a point of gold turned in 
the dust on the road leading to Utica. It was the axle 
of a chariot drawn by two mules, guided by a slave 
who ran at the end of the pole, holding the bridle. 
Two women were seated in the chariot. The manes 


SALAMMBO 


23 


of the mules were puffed out in Persian fashion be- 
tween their ears, beneath a network of blue pearls. 

Spendius, recognising them, suppressed a cry. A 
wide veil floated behind in the breeze. 


CHAPTER II 

AT SICCA 

T HE Mercenaries left Carthage two days later. 
Each soldier had received a piece of money, 
upon the stipulated condition that he would go 
into camp at Sicca, and they had been told, with all 
manner of fawning: 

“You are the saviours of Carthage, but you will 
certainly starve her if you remain here, for the city 
will become insolvent. You must, for your own sake 
withdraw; and by such a consideration you will se- 
cure the goodwill of the Republic. We will imme- 
diately levy taxes to complete your payment, and gal- 
leys shall be equipped to conduct you to your native 
countries.” 

The soldiers did not know what to reply to such talk. 
These men, accustomed to war, weary of sojourning 
in the city, were not difficult to convince. The entire 
populace of Carthage mounted on the city walls to 
watch them depart, as they defiled through the street 
of Khamoun by the gate of Cirta, pell-mell— archers 
with hoplites, captains with common soldiers, Lusi- 
tanians with Greeks. They marched boldly, making 
their heavy cothurns ring on the pavements. Their 
armour was dented by the catapults, their faces were 
sunburnt from long exposure on battle-fields. From 


24 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


their mouths, covered with heavy beards, rasping yells 
issued ; their torn coats of mail rattled upon the hilts 
of their swords, and through the rents in the metal 
were revealed naked limbs as terrible as war-engines. 
Sarissas, spears, felt caps, and bronze helmets all 
swayed as by a single motion. This long array of 
armed men poured forth between the six-storied man- 
sions daubed with- bitumen, making the very walls 
crack as they overflowed the street. From behind iron 
or wicker grills, the women, veiled and silent, watched 
the Barbarians pass. 

The terraces, the fortifications, and the walls were 
hidden under the throng of Carthaginians attired in 
black; the sailors’ tunics looked like spots of blood 
amongst this sombre multitude. Children, almost 
naked, gesticulated in the foliage of the columns, or 
between the branches of the palm-trees. The Elders 
took their position on the platforms of the towers ; and 
no one knew why a man with a long beard kept mov- 
ing from place to place, in a thoughtful attitude. In 
the distance he appeared indistinct as a phantom, and 
at times as motionless as the stones. 

All were oppressed by the same fear, dreading lest 
the Barbarians, perceiving themselves to be so strong, 
might desire to remain. But they departed with such 
assurance that the Carthaginians were gradually em- 
boldened to mingle with the soldiers, overwhelming 
them with gifts and protestations. Some in an access 
of cunning and audacious hypocrisy, begged them not 
to leave the city. They threw flowers, perfumes, and 
pieces of money ; others gave away their amulets, worn 
to ward off illness and harm, but first spat upon them 
three times in order to dispel their intrinsic charm, 
and attract death; or, to make the hearts of the re- 
cipients cowardly, they enclosed jackal’s hair in the 


SALAMMBO 


25 


talismans; others would invoke aloud the blessing of 
Melkarth, but in a whisper implore his curse. 

Following the soldiers came a mass of baggage, 
beasts of burden, and stragglers ; the sick groaned on 
the backs of dromedaries, while others limped along, 
supporting themselves on broken spears. The bibulous 
carried wine-skins, the gluttonous took quarters of 
meat, cakes, fruits, and butter done up in fig-leaves, 
and snow packed in canvas bags. Some were observed 
holding parasols, and others had parrots perched on 
their shoulders, or were followed by dogs, gazelles, 
or panthers. Libyan women, mounted on asses, heaped 
invectives upon the negresses who had forsaken the 
brothels of Malqua to go with the soldiers ; many 
suckled the infants suspended from their bosoms in a 
leather leash. Mules, urged by their drivers with the 
points of spears, bent under the heavy burden of tents 
heaped on their backs. The train also included a num- 
ber of varlets and water-carriers, feeble and yellow 
from fevers, filthy with vermin, the scum of the ple- 
beian Carthaginians who had attached themselves to 
the Barbarian troops. 

As soon as they had all passed out, the gates were 
closed behind them. Still the people did not descend 
from the walls. The army spread quickly over the 
width of the isthmus, and divided in unequal detach- 
ments, until the lances appeared like tall blades of 
grass ; finally all were lost to sight in clouds of dust, 
and the soldiers, looking back at Carthage, could only 
distinguish its long wall with the vacant battlements 
outlined against the sky. 

Then the Barbarians heard a great outcry; not 
knowing the exact number of their troops, they 
thought that some of their comrades had lingered be- 
hind in the city to amuse themselves by plundering 


26 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


a temple; they laughed heartily over this idea as they 
continued on their way. Once more marching to- 
gether through the open country, they were full of joy, 
and the Greeks sang the old song of the Mamertines : 

“ With my lance and my sword I sow 
And I reap; I am master of the house! 

The disarmed must fall at my feet, 

And call me ‘ Lord ’ and ‘ King! ’ ” 

They shouted, leaped, and the gayest narrated 
stories, for the period of their miseries was past. Upon 
reaching Tunis, some of the soldiers noticed that a 
troupe of Balearic slingers were missing; but, assum- 
ing that they could not be far behind, no further 
thought was given to them. 

At Tunis some lodged in the houses, others camped 
at the foot of the walls, and the people of the city 
came out to chat with them. During the entire night 
fires blazed on the horizon in the direction of Carthage, 
and the flames, like gigantic torches, stretched over 
the surface of the motionless lake: yet no one in the 
army could divine what festival was being celebrated. 

The next day the Barbarians crossed a tract of 
country under complete cultivation. Patricians’ farm- 
houses succeeded one another along the edge of the 
route, irrigating ditches flowed through palm-groves, 
olive-trees formed long green lanes, rosy vapours floated 
in the gorges of the hills, and blue mountains towered 
up behind. A warm wind blew. Chameleons crawled 
over the broad cactus-leaves. The Barbarians marched 
in isolated detachments one after another, at long in- 
tervals and with slackening speed. They ate grapes 
from the vines, slept on the grass, and looked in dull 
astonishment at the large artificially twisted horns of 
the cattle, the sheep covered with skins to protect their 
wool ; the furrows, intercrossing in lozenge-like shape ; 


SALAMMBO 


27 


then they scanned the ploughs, with shares like the 
flukes of a ship’s anchor, and the pomegranates wa- 
tered with silphium. The opulence of the earth, and 
the wisdom of all these strange agricultural inven- 
tions, truly amazed them. 

With faces upturned to the stars, they stretched 
themselves at night upon their unfolded tents, regret- 
fully thinking of the delights of Hamilcar’s feast as 
they fell asleep. 

In the middle of the following day they halted on 
the banks of a river amidst bushes of laurel-roses. 
Throwing aside their lances, bucklers, and belts, they 
plunged into the water, shouting as they bathed, drink- 
ing out of their helmets or from the stream as they 
lay flat on the ground, surrounded by the beasts of 
burden from whose backs the baggage was falling. 

Spendius, seated on a dromedary stolen from Ham- 
ilcar’s parks, spied Matho at a distance, steadily look- 
ing in the running water while his mule drank. His 
wounded arm was hanging against his chest, he was 
bareheaded, and his face was downcast. The slave 
ran through the crowd, calling out : “ Master ! 

Master ! ” 

Matho gave him slight thanks for his blessings. 
Spendius, little heeding the repulse, followed on be- 
hind him, and from time to time turned his eyes rest- 
lessly toward Carthage. Spendius was the son of a 
Greek rhetorician and a Campanian courtesan. He 
became rich by selling women: then was ruined by a 
wreck; after which, with the Samnite shepherds, he 
made war against the Romans, was captured, escaped, 
and was then retaken. During his capitivity he had 
worked in the quarries, panted in the sweating-baths, 
shrieked in the tortures, passed into the hands of vari- 
ous masters, and experienced many misfortunes. One 


28 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


day, in despair, he plunged into the sea off a trireme, 
in which he was one of a squad pulling the oars. The 
sailors picked him up as drowning, and took him to 
Carthage to the ergastulum of Megara; but as the 
fugitives were finally to be delivered back to the 
Romans, he had profited by the prevailing confusion 
to fly with the soldiers. During the entire march he 
remained near Matho, attending to his food, assisting 
him to mount and dismount, and at night placing a 
carpet under his head. Touched by such persistent 
attentions, Matho became gradually less reserved. 

Matho was born on the Gulf of Syrtis; his father 
had taken him on a pilgrimage to the temple of Am- 
mon; he had hunted elephants in the forests of the 
Garamantes ; and afterward had engaged himself in 
the service of Carthage. After the capture of Dre- 
panum he had been appointed tetrarch. The Republic 
was in Matho’s debt for four horses, twenty-three 
medimni of wheat, and his pay for one winter. He 
feared the gods, and wished to die in his native 
country. 

Spendius talked to him of his travels, his people, 
and the temples that he had visited; he knew many 
things: how to make sandals, boar-spears, and nets; 
how to tame wild animals, and the manner of curing 
fish. From time to time he stopped his narration to 
give utterance, from the depths of his chest, to a sharp 
cry, at which Matho’s mule quickened its pace and 
the others followed ; then Spendius would resume his 
tale, always agitated by his grief. On the evening of 
the fourth day he became calm. 

Side by side they marched, at the right of the army 
on the flank of a hill ; the plain below stretching away 
until indistinguishable in the evening mists. The lines 
of soldiers, defiling below them, made undulations 


SALAMMBO 


29 


through the darkness. From time to time, when pass- 
ing over eminences lit by the moon, a star would quiver 
on the shining points of the moving spears, or for an 
instant mirror itself on the helmets, then disappear, 
to be continually succeeded by others. In the distance, 
the disturbed flocks bleated, and an infinite sweetness 
seemed to envelop the earth. 

Spendius, with raised head, and eyes half-closed, 
breathed in the fresh breeze with deep inhalations, 
throwing out his arms, and moving his fingers rest- 
lessly, to feel better the caresses of the air gliding 
over his body. The thirst for vengeance returned, 
transporting him. He pressed his hand over his mouth 
to prevent sobs escaping his lips, and thus, half swoon- 
ing in a delirium, he dropped the dromedary’s halter; 
but the animal continued to move forward with long, 
regular strides. Matho had relapsed into his former 
sadness ; his long legs hung down to the ground, and 
the grasses, rubbing against his cothurnes, made a 
constant rustling. 

The road seemed to be without end, for at the ex- 
tremity of a plain it came to a round plateau, then 
descended into a valley ; and the mountains, that in 
the distance closed in the horizon, as they were ap- 
proached were displaced, and slipped away farther 
into the perspective. Now and then a river might be 
seen flowing through the verdure of tamarisks, only 
to lose itself at a turn of the hills. Occasionally an 
immense rock stood up like the prow of a vessel, or 
like the pedestal of some vanished statue. At regular 
intervals they passed little quadrangular temples, serv- 
ing as shelters for the pilgrims journeying to Sicca. 
They were as firmly closed as tombs. The Libyans 
knocked loudly against the doors but no one responded 
from within. 


30 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


At this point cultivation became rare. They came 
upon strips of sand bristling with clumps of thorns ; 
flocks of sheep browsed among the stones, watched 
over by a woman about whose waist was a blue fleece- 
girdle. When she saw the soldiers’ spears between 
the rocks, she fled screaming. 

They were marching through a wide passage, 
formed by two chains of reddish hillocks, when a nau- 
seous odour struck their nostrils, and they believed 
that they saw something extraordinary at the top of 
a carob tree; a lion’s head standing up above the 
foliage. 

Hastening toward it, they found a lion attached 
to a cross by its four limbs, like a criminal ; his enor- 
mous muzzle hung to his breast, and his fore-paws, 
half hidden beneath the abundance of his mane, were 
widely spread apart, like the wings of a bird; under 
the tightly drawn skin, his ribs protruded and his hind 
legs were nailed together, but were slightly drawn up ; 
black blood had trickled through the hairs, and col- 
lected in stalactites at the end of his tail, which hung 
straight down the length of the cross. The soldiers 
crowded around the beast, amusing themselves by 
calling him : “ Consul ! ” and “ Citizen of Rome ! ” and 
threw pebbles into his eyes to drive away the swarm- 
ing gnats. 

A hundred paces farther on they came upon two 
more lions; then presently appeared a long row of 
crosses supporting yet other lions. Some had been 
dead a long time, for nothing remained against the 
wooden crosses save the debris of their skeletons ; and 
their half-corroded jaws were distorted in horrible 
grimaces. Others were of such huge size that the 
shafts of the crosses bent beneath their great weight 
and swayed in the wind, so that flocks of ravenous vul- 


SALAMMBO 


31 


tures circled high in the air without daring to alight. 

Thus it was that the Carthaginian peasantry re- 
venged themselves when they captured ferocious 
beasts, hoping by such examples to terrify others. 
The Barbarians ceased their laughter, relapsing into 
a deep amazement. “ What people is this,” thought 
they, “ which finds amusement in crucifying lions ? ” 

The men from the north were vaguely disturbed, 
anxious, and already ill. They tore their hands on 
the aloe thorns, large mosquitoes buzzed in their ears, 
and dysentery was attacking the army. They were dis- 
heartened because they could not yet see Sicca, and 
fearful lest they should be lost and perish in the desert 
— the region of sands and terrors. Many would not 
advance further; others turned back on the road to 
Carthage. 

On the seventh evening, after following for a long 
time the base of a mountain, the road abruptly 
turned to the right, and beyond loomed up a line of 
walls, resting upon and blending with white rocks. 
Suddenly the entire city rose before them. Blue, yel- 
low, and white veils fluttered along on the walls in the 
blush of the evening, as the priestesses of Tanit came 
forward to receive the soldiers ; there they waited, 
ranged along the length of the rampart, striking tam- 
bourines, playing lyres, clattering castanets, while the 
sun’s rays, as it set behind the Numidian mountains, 
gleamed between the harpstrings and their bare, out- 
stretched arms. At intervals the instruments were 
silenced; then a strident cry rang out furious and 
frenzied, a sort of barking produced by clacking their 
tongues against the corners of their mouths. Those 
who were not playing remained motionless, leaning 
on their elbows with their chins pressed in the palms 
of their hands, more immobile than sphinxes — darting 


32 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


glances from their large, black eyes at the advancing 
army. 

Sicca was a sacred city, but the temple and its de- 
pendencies occupied half of its area, so it could not 
contain such a multitude : therefore the Barbarians 
camped on the plain, at their ease. Those who were 
disciplined took up regular quarters; others arranged 
themselves by nationalities or according to their own 
fancies. 

The Greeks pitched their tents of skin in parallel 
rows; Iberians arranged their canvas canopies in a 
circle ; Gauls made wooden huts ; Libyans constructed 
cabins of dry stones ; and the Negroes dug with their 
nails holes in the sand in which they slept; and many, 
not knowing what to do with themselves, wandered 
about amongst the baggage, and at night lay on the 
ground rolled up in their ragged mantles. 

The plain spread around them, bounded on all sides 
by mountains; here and there a palm-tree inclined on 
the top of a sand-hill ; firs and oaks dotted the sides 
of precipices. Sometimes a rain cloud would hang 
in one part of the sky like a long scarf, while the rest 
of the country would stay imbued with azure and 
serenity; then a warm wind would drive before it 
whirlwinds of sand. A stream descended in cascades 
from the heights of Sicca, where upon brazen columns 
rose the golden-roofed temple of the Carthaginian 
Venus, ruler of the country. The goddess seemed to 
fill it with her soul. By the heavings of the earth, by 
the changes of temperature and the play of lights, she 
manifested the extravagance of her authority with the 
beauty of her eternal smile. The summits of the moun- 
tains were crescent shaped ; others resembled the bosom 
of a woman offering her swelling breasts. Surmount- 
ing their fatigues the Barbarians felt an overwhelm- 


SALAMMBO 


33 


ing sense of this reigning influence, full of soft delights. 

Spendius had bought a slave with the money re- 
ceived from the sale of the stolen dromedary. He 
slept before Matho’s tent the whole day long ; imag- 
ining in his dreams that he heard the whirr of the 
lash, he would wake and pass his hands over the cica- 
trices on his legs, caused by having so long worn 
irons ; satisfied of his safety, he would fall asleep again. 

Matho accepted the companionship of Spendius, 
who, wearing a long sword at his side, escorted him 
when he went out like a lictor. Sometimes he would 
even rest his arm on the shoulder of Spendius, who 
was a small man. 

One evening, as they were traversing the camp 
streets, they saw a number of men robed in white 
mantles, and in their midst was Nan*’ Havas, the 
Numidian prince. Matho trembled. “ Your sword ! ” 
cried he. “ I will kill him ! ” 

“ Not yet/’ replied Spendius, restraining him. Narr’ 
Havas was already coming toward them. 

He kissed his thumbs as a sign of alliance, speaking 
of the anger he had shown at the feast as being due 
to drunkenness; then he spoke at length against Car- 
thage, but he did not say what had brought him to 
the Barbarians. 

“ Was it to betray them or the Republic? ” Spendius 
wondered to himself ; and as he anticipated profit from 
all disturbances, he felt grateful to Narr’ Havas for 
the future treacheries of which he suspected him. 

The Numidian chief remained among the Merce- 
naries; he seemed desirous to attach Matho to himself. 
He sent him fattened goats, gold-dust, and ostrich- 
plumes. The Libyan, amazed by these tokens of fa- 
vour, hesitated whether to respond amicably, or to 
resent them; but Spendius appeased him. Matho 


34 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


seemed irresolute and in an invincible torpor, like one 
who had partaken of some deadly potion, and he al- 
lowed himself to be governed by his slave. 

One morning, when the three started off on a lion- 
hunt, Narr 1 Havas concealed a poniard under his 
mantle. Spendius, who observed the act, walked con- 
tinually behind him; hence they returned without the 
Numidian having had an opportunity to draw the 
weapon. Upon another occasion Narr’ Havas led 
them a very long way, in fact, to the boundaries of 
his own kingdom ; they entered a narrow gorge, and 
Narr’ Havas smiled while declaring that he no longer 
knew the road; however, Spendius found it again. 

Matho more frequently than ever before was as mel- 
ancholy as an augur ; starting at sunrise he would wan- 
der into the country, throw himself on the ground, and 
there remain motionless till evening. 

He consulted, one after another, all the soothsayers 
in the army : those who observed the trails of serpents, 
those who studied the stars, and those who blew on 
the ashes of the dead. He swallowed galbanum, 
meadow-saxifrage, and the venom of vipers, supposed 
to freeze the heart. He summoned the negro women, 
who chanting barbaric words by moonlight pricked 
the skin of his forehead with golden stilettos. He 
loaded himself with amulets and charms ; invoking one 
after another Baal-Khamoun, Moloch, the seven Ca- 
biri, Tanit, and the Grecian Venus; he engraved a 
name on a copper plate, and buried it at the threshold 
of his tent. Spendius could hear him constantly moan- 
ing and talking to himself. One night he ventured to 
enter his master’s tent. Matho, naked as a corpse, 
was lying flat on a lion’s skin, his face buried in his 
hands; a suspended lamp lit up his armour, hung 
against the tent-pole. 


SALAMMBO 


35 


“ You suffer? ” said the slave to him. “ What is it? 
Tell me! ” and he shook him by the shoulders, calling 
him several times “ Master ! Master ! ” 

Matho raised his large, troubled eyes towards him. 

“ Listen ! ” he said in a deep voice, with one finger 
on his lips ; “ it is the wrath of the gods ! The daugh- 
ter of Hamilcar pursues me ! I fear her, Spendius ! ” 
then he pressed his hands against his breast, like a 
child terrified by a phantom. “ Speak to me ! I am 
ill ! I wish to recover ! I have vainly tried every- 
thing; but you, mayhap you, know of stronger gods, 
or some compelling invocation ? ” 

“ To what purpose?” asked Spendius. 

Matho struck his head with his fists : “ To liberate 
me from her ! ” Then, at long intervals, he said, talk- 
ing to himself : “ I am perhaps the victim of a holo- 
caust she has promised to the gods. . . . She holds 
me bound by a chain that cannot be seen. ... If I 
walk, she is beside me ; when I pause, she stops. . . . 
Her eyes burn me. ... I hear her voice. . . . She 
encompasses, she penetrates me. ... It seems that she 
has become my soul ! And yet, between us flow the 
invisible waves of a boundless ocean ! She is remote 
and inaccessible ! The splendour of her beauty weaves 
around her a mist of light ; at moments I think I never 
saw her — that she has no existence — that it is all a 
dream ! ” 

Matho wept in despair. Outside, the Barbarians 
slept. 

Spendius, looking at this man, recalled to mind the 
young men who, with golden vases in their hands, had 
supplicated him, when he paraded his troops of cour- 
tesans through the cities. A feeling of pity touched 
him, and he said : 

“ Be strong, my master ! Call upon your will, and 


36 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


no longer implore the gods ; they do not heed the cries 
of men ! See, you cry out like a coward ! Are you 
not humiliated that a woman should cause you to suf- 
fer thus? ” 

“ Am I a child ? ” said Matho. “ Believe you that 
I yet weaken at the sight of women’s faces, and at the 
sound of their songs? We kept them in Drepanum 
to sweep out our stables. ... I have possessed them 
under crumbling walls, while the catapaults yet vi- 
brated ! . . . But that woman ! Spendius, she ! ” . . . 

The slave interrupted him: 

“If she were not the daughter of Hamilcar! ” 

“ No ! ” exclaimed Matho. “ She has nothing like 
unto any other daughter of man ! Have you not seen 
her glorious eyes under her great curved eyebrows, 
like suns beneath triumphal arches ? Remember, when 
she appeared, how all the lamps paled, and between 
the diamonds of her collar glimpses of her bosom 
shone resplendently — how behind her floated an odour 
like the perfumes from a temple, and something came 
forth from her entire being more fragrant than wine, 
and more terrible than death ! . . . She moves. ... 
She stops.” He remained open-mouthed, h-is head 
lowered, eyes fixed. 

“ But I desire her ! I must have her ! I am dying 
for her! The thought of holding her in my arms 
fills me with a frenzy of rapture; and yet, withal, I 
hate her ! Spendius, I want to overcome her ! How 
can I do it? I could sell myself to become her slave. 
You were her slave; you could see her. Tell me of 
her — does she not go out on the terrace of her palace 
every night? Ah! the stones must thrill under her 
sandals, and the stars themselves bend down to gaze at 
her ! ” 

He fell back in an access of passion, moaning like 


SALAMMBO 


37 


a wounded bull. Presently he sang : “ He pursued the 
female monster, whose tail undulated over the dead 
leaves like a rivulet of silver,” modulating his voice 
in imitation of Salammbo’s, while his extended hands 
feigned to touch lightly the strings of a lyre. 

To all the consolations offered by Spendius, he kept 
repeating the same words. The nights were passed 
in lamentations and exhortations. Matho endeavoured 
to deaden his senses in wine, but after his orgy had 
passed, he would become sadder than ever. Then he 
tried to distract his thoughts by playing knuckle-bone, 
losing in his unlucky wagers, one after another, the 
gold plaques of his collar. He even visited the hand- 
maidens of the goddess, but afterward descended the 
hillside in sobs, like one returning from a funeral. 

Spendius, on the contrary, became more daring and 
gay ; he might be seen in the leaf-thatched taverns, 
discoursing with the soldiers. He repaired the old 
cuirasses. He juggled with swords. He gathered 
herbs in the fields for the sick. He was facetious, 
subtle, full of inventions and words; and the Barbar- 
ians became accustomed to his services, and grew to 
like him. 

Meanwhile they eagerly awaited the promised mes- 
senger from Carthage, who was to bring them, on 
the backs of mules, baskets filled with gold; and con- 
tinually making the same calculations, they would 
figure on the sand with their fingers. Each man ar- 
ranged his future course of life; one planned to have 
concubines, another slaves, or lands, and others thought 
that they would bury their treasures, or risk them on 
a vessel. But during this protracted season of idle- 
ness, the diverse dispositions chafed ; there continually 
arose disputes between the cavalry and infantry, the 
Barbarians and the Greeks, and above the wrangles 


38 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


of the men could ever be heard the shrill voices of 
the women. 

Day after day men drifted into camp, nearly naked, 
wearing - grasses on their heads to protect them from 
the sun ; they were debtors of rich Carthaginians, and 
had been forced to till the lands, but had escaped. 
Libyans arrived in numbers, accompanied by peasants 
ruined by taxes, exiles and all kinds of malefactors. 
Then came crowds of merchants, and vendors of oil 
and wine, all furious because they had not received 
their money, denouncing the Republic. Spendius de- 
claimed also. Soon the provisions diminished ; then 
they talked of moving in a body on to Carthage, and 
even entertained an idea of appealing to the Romans. 

One evening, during the supper hour, heavy creak- 
ing sounds were heard, and in the distance appeared 
something red moving over the undulations of the soil. 
It was a grand purple litter, ornamented at the corners 
with bunches of ostrich plumes ; crystal chains, inter- 
woven with garlands of pearls, beat against the closed 
hangings. Each stride made by the camels rang large 
bells suspended from their breast-plates, and on all 
sides of them was to be seen an escort of cavalry, clad 
from head to feet in an armour of golden scales. 

The cavalcade halted three hundred paces from the 
camp, to draw from the sheaths which they carried 
behind them, their round bucklers, Boeotian helmets, 
and broadswords. Some of the men remained with 
the camels, the others resumed their march. At last 
appeared the ensigns of the Republic, blue wooden 
poles, terminated by horses’ heads or pine-cones. The 
Barbarians all arose cheering, and the women rushed 
toward the Guards of the Legion and kissed their feet. 

The litter advanced on the shoulders of twelve Ne- 


SALAMMBO 


39 


groes, who marched together with a short, rapid step, 
going at random from right to left, much embarrassed 
by the tent-ropes and animals moving about, and by 
the tripods where meats were cooking. Occasionally 
a fat hand laden with rings would half open the cur- 
tain, and a harsh voice cry out reproaches; then the 
bearers would halt, turn about, and try another road 
through the camp. 

When the purple curtains were lifted there was dis- 
closed on a large pillow an imprassive, bloated human 
head. The eyebrows, joiuing over the nose, formed 
two ebony arches ; gold dust glittered in the crimped 
hair ; and the face was so ghastly, that it seemed pow- 
dered over with marble-dust; the remainder of the 
body was hidden under the fleeces that filled the litter. 
In this man the soldiers recognised the Suffet Hanno, 
the one whose negligence had helped to lose the battle 
of the vEgatian islands. In his victory at Hecatom- 
pylus over the Libyans, he had acted with seeming 
clemency, although he was thought by the Barbarians 
to have been actuated by cupidity, as he had sold to 
his own profit all the captives, subsequently reporting 
to the Republic that they were dead. 

After looking for some time for a convenient place 
from which to address the soldiers, Hanno signalled 
the litter to stop, and assisted by two slaves he alighted 
and placed his tottering feet on the ground. They 
were clad in black felt boots, studded with silver 
moons; bands like those that encase a mummy en- 
wrapped his legs, the flesh protruding where the linen 
strips crossed. His stomach extended beyond the 
scarlet jacket that covered his thighs; and the folds 
of his neck fell down on his breast like the dewlaps 
of an ox; his tunic, on which flowers were painted, 
was torn at the armpits ; he also wore a scarf, a girdle, 


40 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


and a great black mantle with laced double sleeves. 
The extent of his vestments, his collar of blue gems, 
his gold clasps and his heavy earrings rendered even 
more hideous, if possible, his physical deformities. 
He appeared like some gross idol, roughly hewn out 
of a block of stone, for a pale leprosy covered his en- 
tire body, imparting to him the aspect of something 
inert. His nose, however, hooked like a vulture’s beak, 
dilated violently, as he inhaled the air, and his small 
eyes, with their gummed lashes, flashed with a hard, 
metallic glitter. He held in one hand an aloe spatula, 
wherewith to scratch his diseased skin. 

Two heralds sounded their silver horns; the tumult 
subsided, and Hanno began to speak. 

He commenced with a eulogy of the gods and the 
Republic, saying that the Barbarians ought to con- 
gratulate themselves on having served Carthage ; but 
they should also be reasonable, for the times were 
hard : “ and if a master had only three olives, was it 
not just that he keep two for himself? ” 

Thus the old Suffete interpolated throughout his 
speech proverbs and apologies, nodding his head all 
the time to solicit approbation. He spoke in the Punic 
language, and those who surrounded him — the most 
alert, who had run thither without their weapons — 
were Campanians, Gauls, and Greeks, so that no one 
in the immediate crowd understood him. Perceiving 
this, Hanno paused to reflect, meanwhile rocking him- 
self heavily from one leg to the other. The idea oc- 
curred to him to gather together the captains, and his 
heralds cried out the order in Greek, the language 
which had served for word of command in the Car- 
thaginian armies since the time of Xanthippus. 

The guards with blows of their whips dispersed the 
mob of soldiers, and soon the captains of the phalanxes, 


SALAMMBO 


41 


drilled like the Spartans and the chiefs of the Barbaric 
cohorts, came forward wearing the insignia of their 
rank, and the armour of their nation. 

Night was falling; here and there blazed the fires; 
a great tumult stirred the encampment ; and they went 
from one to another, asking, “ What has he brought ? ” 
and “ Why does not the Suffet distribute the money ? ” 

He was explaining the infinite obligations of the 
Republic to the captains and chiefs ; her treasury was 
empty ; the Roman tribute overwhelmed her ; in fact : 
“ We do not know what to do ! The Republic is de- 
serving of much pity ! ” 

From time to time he rubbed his limbs with his aloe 
spatula, or even paused to drink, from a silver cup 
held to his lips by a slave, a decoction of ashes of 
weasels and asparagus boiled in vinegar; then, after 
drying his mouth with a scarlet napkin, he resumed : 

“ That which used to be worth only one shekel of 
silver costs to-day three shekels of gold, and the farms 
abandoned during the war yield nothing. Our purple 
fisheries are almost lost ; pearls even have become ex- 
orbitant ; and it is with difficulty that we can obtain 
sufficient unguents for service to the gods ! and, as 
for articles for table consumption — this subject is a 
disaster on which I shall not dwell. For lack of gal- 
leys the spices fail, and it will be difficult to procure 
silphium, in consequence of the rebellions on the fron- 
tier of Cyrene. Sicily, whence we used to procure our 
slaves, is no longer open to us! Yesterday I gave 
more money for a bath-man and four kitchen-varlets 
than formerly I should have paid for a pair of ele- 
phants ! ” 

He unrolled a long strip of papyrus, and read, with- 
out omitting a single figure, all the expenses that the 
Government had been under, for reparations of the 


42 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


temples, paving streets, constructing vessels, coral- 
fisheries, the aggrandisement of the Syssites, and 
construction of engines for the mines in Cantabria. 

But the captains had no better understanding of 
Punic than the soldiers, even though the Mercenaries 
saluted in that language. Ordinarily numerous Car- 
thaginian officers were interspersed through the Bar- 
baric armies to serve as interpreters, but after the 
recent war they had hidden, abandoning their posts, 
fearful of vengeance; and Hanno had not the fore- 
thought to provide himself with interpreters before 
setting out on his mission. His voice too was so low/ 
it became lost in the wind. 

The Greeks, girding on their iron sword-belts, lis- 
tened attentively, striving to fathom his meaning; the 
mountaineers, covered with skins like bears, looked 
distrustfully at him, or yawned, leaning on their heavy 
clubs studded with brass nails. The Gauls inatten- 
tively sneered, shaking their tall towers of hair; and 
the men of the desert, completely muffled up in grey 
woollen clothing, listened motionless. Men pushed 
forward from behind, till the Guards, crowded by the 
surging mob, actually swayed on their horses. Ne- 
groes held at arm’s length lighted torches of fir- 
branches ; and the big Carthaginian continued his 
harangue, standing in full view on a grassy mound. 

Meanwhile the Barbarians grew impatient, and be- 
gan to murmur. Each one apostrophised Hanno, who 
gesticulated with his spatula; those who wished to 
silence others yelled louder, thereby increasing the din. 
Suddenly a man of stunted appearance bounded to 
Hanno’s feet, snatched a trumpet from one of the 
heralds, blew it, and Spendius — for it was he — an- 
nounced that he had something to say of importance. 
He rapidly reiterated this declaration in five different 


SALAMMBO 


43 


languages, Greek, Latin, Gallic, Libyan, and Bealearic ; 
the captains, half surprised, half laughing, responded; 
“ Speak ! Speak ! ” 

Spendius, hesitating a moment, trembled ; at last 
he commenced by addressing the Libyans, as they 
were the most numerous: 

“You have all heard the horrible threats of this 
man ! ” 

Hanno made no remonstrance, as he did not com- 
prehend Libyan ; so, to continue the experimennt, 
Spendius repeated the same phrase in all the other 
Barbaric idioms. The soldiers looked at one another 
in amazement ; when all, as by tacit consent, or per- 
haps believing that they comprehended, bowed their 
heads to signify agreement. 

Then Spendius began in a vehement voice : 

“ In the first place, he has said that all the gods 
of other nations were but myths compared with the 
Carthaginian gods! He has called you all cowards, 
thieves, liars, dogs and sons of harlots ! He has said, 
that but for you the Republic would not now be pay- 
ing the tribute to Rome, and that by your outrages 
you have drained Carthage of perfumes, aromatics, 
slaves, and silphium, as you are in league with the 
Nomads, on the frontiers of Cyrene. You yourselves 
have heard ! Then he has said that the offender shall 
be punished, and has read the enumeration of their 
punishments, such as paving the roads, fitting up the 
vessels, embellishing the Syssites, and being forced to 
dig in the mines of Cantabria/’ 

Spendius repeated all this to the Greeks, Gauls, Cam- 
panians, and Bealearics. They recognised many of 
the proper names that Hanna had used, so were con- 
vinced that he was giving an accurate report of the 
Suffet’s discourse, Some yelled out to him; 


44 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“You lie!” 

Their voices were lost in the uproar of others, and 
Spendius went on: 

“ Do you not see that he has left a reserve force 
of cavalry outside the camp? At a signal from him, 
they are prepared to rush upon you and slay you.” 

At this the Barbarians turned in the direction indi- 
cated ; and as the crowd was then dispersing, there 
appeared in their midst, moving slowly as a phantom, 
a human being, bent over, thin, entirely naked, and 
hidden almost to his thighs by his long hair, bristling 
with dry leaves, dust, and thorns. About his loins 
and knees were wisps of straw and shreds of cloth; 
his cadaverous skin hung to his fleshless limbs like 
rags on dry branches ; his hands trembled continually, 
and he advanced leaning on an olive staff. He came 
towards the Negro torch-bearers. An idiotic grin 
revealed his pale gums, and his great frightened 
eyes examined the .Barbarians who gathered around 
him. 

Suddenly uttering a cry of fright, he sprang behind 
the Negroes, hiding himself with their bodies, and 
stammered out, “ Look at them ! look at them ! ” point- 
ing at the Suffers guards sitting motionless in their 
glistening armour, their horses pawing the ground, 
dazzled by the torch-lights that crackled in the dark- 
ness. The human spectre struggled and yelled, “ They 
killed them ! ” 

At these words, which were screamed in Balearic, 
the Balearians drew nearer, and recognised him ; but 
without responding to their questions, he repeated: 

“Yes, killed all! all! Crushed like grapes! The 
fine young men ! The slingers ! My comrades and 
yours ! ” 

They gave him wine to drink, overcome by weak- 


SALAMMBO 45 

ness, he wept. Then again he launched forth a volley 
of words. 

With difficulty Spendius managed to conceal his 
joy; even while explaining to the Greeks and Libyans 
all the horrible events recounted by Zarxas, he could 
scarcely credit such an apropos and desirable coinci- 
dence. The Balearic soldiers paled on being told of 
the manner in which their companions had perished. 
A troop of three hundred slingers had landed at 
Carthage in the evening and overslept themselves, so 
that when they arrived the next morning at the square 
of Khamoun, the Barbarians had already gone, and 
they found themselves defenceless, their clay balls 
having been packed upon the camels with the other 
army baggage. They were allowed to enter the street 
of Satheb, and to proceed till they reached the oaken 
gate lined with brass plates, when the people, by a 
single movement, sprung upon the helpless troop. 

Many of the soldiers recalled the great shouting 
they had heard; but Spendius, who had fled at the 
head of the columns, had not heard it. 

The corpses of the slingers were placed in the arms 
of the Dii-P atari — which surrounded the temple of 
Khamoun. Then they were reproached for all the 
crimes committed by the Mercenaries— their glutton- 
ies, thefts, impieties, insults, and the ruthless slaughter 
of the fishes in Salammbo s garden. The bodies were 
infamously mutilated; the priests burned their hair 
believing this would torture their souls ; pieces of their 
flesh were hung up in the butchers’ shops : some of 
the torturers even buried their teeth in the flesh ; and 
at night, to complete the outrages, the remains were 
burned on pyres at the cross-ways. 

These, then, were the fires that had flashed so 
brightly in the distance over the lake. Some of the 


46 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


horses took fire, so the remaining bodies and the dying 
were hurriedly pitched over the walls. Zarxas was 
one of this number, and until the next day remained 
in the reeds on the lake shore ; then he wandered about, 
seeking the army by its footsteps in the dust. During 
the daytime he hid in caverns, continuing his march 
in the night time. With wounds unstaunched, famish- 
ing and ill, he subsisted on roots and carrion. At 
length one day he saw on the horizon the lances, and 
followed them. His reason was disturbed by the force 
and continuance of his terrors and miseries. 

While he spoke, the soldiers controlled their indig- 
nation with difficulty ; when he had finished, however, 
it burst forth like a storm ; they wanted then and there 
to massacre the Guards and the Suffet. Some less 
violent objected, saying that at least he should be 
heard and let them know if they were to be paid. 

All yelled “ Our money ! ” Hanno replied that he 
had brought it. 

They made a rush to the advance posts, dragging 
the Suffet’s baggage to the centre of the camp. With- 
out waiting for the slaves, they unfastened the baskets. 
In those they opened first they found hyacinth-robes, 
sponges, scratchers, brushes, perfumes, and bodkins 
of antimony for painting the eyes — all belonging to 
the Guards, who were rich men accustomed to luxuries. 

Then they found on one of the camels a large bronze 
bath-tub, in which the Suffet bathed during his march ; 
for he took all sorts of precautions, even bringing 
caged weasels from Hecatompylus, to be burned alive 
for his decoction. And as his malady imparted to him 
an enormous appetite, he had wrought a plentiful sup- 
ply of comestibles — wines, pickles, meats and fish pre- 
served in honey, and little Commagene-pots of goose- 
grease packed in snow and chopped straw. When the 


SALAMMBO 


47 


baskets were opened and the contents were displayed, 
the provisions appeared in such considerable quanti- 
ties as to provoke a laughter that swept over the Bar- 
barians like conflicting waves. 

But the wages of the Mercenaries hardly filled two 
esparto coffers ; and even in one of these they saw 
the leather tokens used by the Republic to save their 
specie. The Barbarians expressing surprise, Hanno 
explained that their accounts were very difficult, and 
that the Elders had not yet found leisure to examine 
them. In the meantime they had sent this supply. 
Everything was emptied recklessly and overturned — 
mules, valets, litter, provisions, and baggage. 

The soldiers seized upon the money in the sacks to 
throw at Hanno. With great difficulty he was 
mounted upon an ass, and he fled, clutching its mane ; 
howling, crying, jolted, bruised, as he hurled back 
upon the army the curses of all the gods. His broad, 
jewelled necklace rebounded to his ears; he held his 
long, trailing mantle on by clutching it between his 
teeth, and the Barbarians yelled after him from afar : 

“ Go, coward ! Pig ! Sewer of Moloch ! Sweat 
out now your gold and your pestilence. Faster! 
Faster ! ” The escort in disorder galloped beside 
him. 

The fury of the Barbarians could not be appeased: 
they recalled that many of their number who had 
set out for Carthage had never returned : doubtless 
they had been killed. So much injustice enraged them, 
and they began to pull up their tent pegs, roll up their 
mantles, bridle their horses, each one taking his casque 
and sword; and in an instant everyone was ready. 
Those who did not possess weapons rushed into the 
woods to cut bludgeons. 

Day dawned: the people of Sicca awoke, and be- 


48 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


stirred themselves in the streets to witness the army 
leaving. 

“ They go to Carthage ! ” it was said ; and the ru- 
mour ran like wild-fire, spreading throughout the 
country. 

From every pathway, from every ravine, men sprang 
forth. Shepherds could be seen descending the moun- 
tains, running breathlessly. When the Barbarians had 
gone Spendius circled the plain, mounted on a Punic 
stallion, accompanied by his slave, who led a third 
horse. A single tent remained on the field. Spendius 
entered it, exclaiming: 

“Up, master! Awake! We depart!” 

“ Whither do we go ? ” demanded Matho. 

“ To Carthage ! ” cried Spendius. 

Matho bounded upon the horse which the slave held 
at the entrance. 


CHAPTER III 

SALAMMBO 

A CROSS the waves the rising moon struck a shaft 
of light and over the city hung vast shadows, 
interspersed with luminous glints of brilliant 
whiteness — the pole of a chariot in a courtyard, some 
vagrant rag of linen, the angle of a wall, or the glitter 
of a gold necklace on the bosom of a god. On the 
roofs of the temples the glass globes glittered like 
enormous diamonds : but half defined ruins, heaps of 
black earth, and gardens, made more sombre masses 
in the general obscurity. 

At the foot of Malqua, fishermen’s nets extended 


SALAMMBO 


49 


from house to house, like gigantic bats with outspread 
wings. The creaking of the hydraulic wheels that 
forced the water to the upper stories of the palaces 
had ceased. In the centre of the terraces camels 
tranquilly reposed, lying on their bellies after the man- 
ner of ostriches. The porters slept in the streets at 
the thresholds of the mansions. The colossi cast long 
shadows over the deserted squares. In the distance, 
the smoke of a sacrifice still burning escaped through 
the bronze tiles ; and a heavy breeze brought the odour 
of aromatic perfumes and the scent of the sea, mingled 
with exhalations from the sun-heated walls. 

Around Carthage the motionless waters gleamed 
resplendent, as the rising moon spread her light, at 
the same time, over the gulf, enclosed by mountains 
and over the lake of Tunis, where upon the banks of 
sand flamingoes formed long, rose-coloured lines ; and 
farther on below the catacombs the large salt lagoon 
shimmered like a lake of burnished silver. The blue 
dome of heaven on the one side sank into the horizon 
down to the powdered plains, and on the other side 
faded away into the sea-mists ; and on the summit of 
the Acropolis, the pyramidal cypresses bordering the 
temple of Eschmoun swayed, murmuring like the swell 
of the waves that beat slowly along the mole at the 
foot of the ramparts. 

Salammbo ascended to the upper terrace of her 
palace, supported by a slave, who carried an iron plate 
filled with burning charcoal. 

In the centre of the terrace was a small ivory couch 
covered with lynx-skins, upon which were pillows 
made out of the feathers of the prophetic parrots — 
birds consecrated to the gods — and at the four corners 
were long cassolettes, filled with spikenard, incense, 
cinnamon, and myrrh. The slave lit the perfumes. 


50 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Salammbo contemplated the polar star, then slowly 
saluting the four quarters of the heavens knelt on the 
ground amid the azure powder strewn with gold stars, 
in imitation of the firmament. Then she pressed her 
elbows close against her sides, extending her forearms 
perfectly straight, with hands open, her head turned 
upward and back under the full rays of the moon, 
reciting : 

“ O Rabetna ! Baalet ! Tanit ! ” Her tones 
continued plaintively, as if she called some one : 
“Anaitis ! Astarte! Derceto! Astoreth ! Mylitta! 
Athara! Elissa! Tiratha! ... By the hidden sym- 
bols ... by the resounding timbrels ... by the fur- 
rows of the earth ... by the eternal silence ... by 
the everlasting fruitfulness. . . . Ruler of the shad- 
owy sea, and of the azure shore, O Queen of the 
humid world, all hail ! ” 

She swayed her entire body two or three times, then 
threw herself face downward, with outstrtched arms, 
flat in the dust. 

Her slave lifted her up quickly, for it was appointed 
that after such rites some one should always lift the 
suppliant from her prostration, as a sign that the ser- 
vice was acceptable in the sight of the gods ; Sa- 
lammbo’s nurse never failed in this pious duty. This 
slave had been brought, when but a child, to Carthage 
by some merchants of Dara-Getulia, but after her 
emancipation she had no wish to leave her many mas- 
ters; as a proof of her willing servitude, according 
to a recognised custom, in her right ear a large 
hole was pierced. She wore a many-coloured striped 
skirt fitting tightly about her hips, falling straight 
down to her ankles, between which as she walked two 
tin rings struck against one another; her flat face was 
as yellow as her tunic; very long silver pins made a 


SALAMMBO 


51 


halo at the back of her head, and in one nostril was 
inserted a coral stud. She now stood beside the couch 
with eyes downcast, more erect than a Hermes. 

Salammbo walked to the edge of the terrace; her 
eyes swept for an instant over the horizon, then she 
lowered her gaze to the sleeping city. She heaved 
a sigh from the depths of her bosom, causing her long 
white simarre to undulate from end to end as it hung 
unconfined either by girdle or agrafe. Her curved 
sandals with turned-up toes were hidden beneath a 
mass of emeralds: her hair was carelessly caught up 
in a net of purple silk. 

She raised her head to contemplate the moon — min- 
gling with her words the fragments of hymns as she 
murmured : 

“ How lightly dost thou turn, supported by the im- 
palpable ether! It is luminous about thee, and the 
movement of thy changes distributes the winds and 
the fruitful dews ; as thou waxest and wanest, the eyes 
of cats elongate or shorten, and the spots of the leopard 
are changed. Women scream thy name in the pangs 
of childbirth ! Thou increasest the shell-fish ! Thou 
causest the wine to ferment ! Thou putrefiest the dead ! 
Thou shapest the pearls at the bottom of the seas ; and 
all germs, O goddess ! are quickened in the profound 
obscurity of thy humidity ! When thou comest forth 
a calmness spreadeth over the earth ; the flowers close ; 
the waves are lulled; wearied men sleep with their 
faces upturned toward thee ; and the entire earth, with 
its oceans and its mountains, is reflected in thy face, 
as in a mirror. Thou art white, sweet, lustrous, gentle, 
immaculate, purifying, serene ! ” 

The crescent moon was just then over the Hot- 
Springs Mountain; below it in the notch of the two 
summits on the opposite side of the gulf, appeared a 


52 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


little star, encircled by a pale light. Salammbo con- 
tinued : 

“ But thou art a terrible mistress ! . . . Likewise 
produced by thee are monsters, frightful phantoms, 
and awful dreams ; thine eyes devour the stones of the 
edifices, and during the periods of thy rejuvenescence 
the sacred apes fall ill. Whither goest thou then ? 
Why continually changest thou thy forms ? Some- 
times narrow and curved, thou glidest through space 
as a mastless galley, and again, in the midst of stars 
thou resemblest a shepherd guarding his flock; anon 
shining and round, thou grazest the summit of the 
mounts like a chariot wheel ! 

O Tanit, dost thou not love me? I have gazed 
on thee so often ! But, no, thou proceedest in thine 
azure, whilst I remain on the motionless earth ? . . . 

Taanach, take your nebal and play softly on the 
silver string, for my heart is sad.” 

The slave lifted a sort of ebony harp, taller than 
herself, of a triangular shape like a delta, and placing 
the point in a crystal globe began to play with both 
hands. 

Sounds followed low, precipitous tones, like the 
buzzing of bees, and growing more and more son- 
orous, were wafted into the night, and mingled with 
the lament of the waves and the rustling of the large 
trees on the summit of the Acropolis. 

“ Hush ! ” cried Salammbo. 

“What is it, mistress? If a breeze but blow, or a 
cloud pass, thou art vexed and disturbed.” 

“ I know not,” she replied. 

“ v ou have exhausted yourself by praying too long ” 
urged the slave. 

Oh! Taanach! I would dissolve myself in prayer 
like a flower in wine ! ” 


SALAMMBO 


53 


“ Perhaps it is the scent of the perfumes ? ” 

No ! said Salammbo. “ The spirit of the gods 
dwells in sweet odours.” 

Then the slave talked to her of her father. It was 
believed that he had gone into the Amber country 
beyond the pillars of Melkarth. 

„ “ But mistress, if he should not return,” she said, 
you must choose, as was his will, a husband from 
among” the sons of the Elders ; and your unrest will 
vanish in the embrace of your husband.” 

“ Wh y ? ” ask ed the young girl. All the sons of the 
Elders she had ever seen horrified her with their wild 
beast laughter, and their coarse limbs. 

Taanach, sometimes a feeling emanates from the 
innermost depths of my being, like hot flushes, heavier 
than the vapours arising from a volcano — voices call 
to me ; a fiery globe rises up in my breast ; it suffocates 
me. I seem to be about to die, when something sweet 
flows from my brow, extending to my very feet — 
thrills through every atom of my being — it is a caress 
which envelopes me— I feel myself crushed as if a god 
spread himself over and upon me. Oh ! I long to lose 
myself in the night mists — in the ripples of the foun- 
tains, in the sap of the trees to leave my body to be 
but a breath of air — a ray of light, and glide through 
space unto thee, O Mother ! ” 

She raised her arms to their full height, bending 
her body backward, pale and delicate in her white 
robe, as the moon ; then in her ecstacy she fell panting 
on her ivory couch. Taanach placed around her mis- 
tress’s neck a collar of amber and dolphins’ teeth to 
banish these terrors. Salammbo said, in a voice al- 
most inaudible, “ Go and bring Schahabarim here to 
me.” 

Salammbo’s father had not wished that she should 


54 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


enter the college of priestesses, nor even that she 
should know aught concerning the popular Tanit. 
He intended her for some alliance which would serve 
his political aims : so that Salammbo lived alone in 
her palace, her 'mother having been dead for years. 
She had grown up amid abstinences, fasts, and puri- 
fications, and was always surrounded by exquisite 
and solemn things — her body saturated with perfumes 
— her soul filled with prayers. She had not tasted 
wine, or eaten meat, or touched an unclean animal, 
or put her foot in the house of death. 

She was ignorant of obscene images ; for each god 
was manifested in many different forms, and the vari- 
ous rites, often most contradictory, all demonstrated 
the same principles ; and Salammbo had been taught 
to adore the goddess in her sidereal representation. 

An influence had descended from the moon upon 
this maiden, for whenever the planet waned Salammbo 
became feeble, languishing all day, only reviving at 
night ; during an eclipse she had nearly died. 

But the jealous Rabetna revenged herself on this 
chaste maiden, withheld from immolation; obsessing 
her with allurements all the stronger because they 
were vague, the outgrowth of faith, strengthened by 
imagination. 

The daughter of Hamilucar was constantly troubled 
about Tanit. She had learned the goddess’s adven- 
tures, her journeys, and all her names, which she re- 
peated, without their having any distinct significance 
for her. In order to penetrate the profundities of her 
dogma, she longed to know, in the most secret places 
of the temple, the ancient idol, with the magnificent 
veil, wherein rested the destiny of Carthage. The 
idea of a deity was not clearly revealed by her repre- 
sentation, and to possess or even behold her image 


SALAMMBO 


55 


was to share a part of her power, and in some measure 
to dominate her. 

Salammbo turned as she recognised the tinkling of 
the gold bells that Schahabarim wore at the hem of 
his robe. 

He ascended the stairs, and pausing as he reached 
the threshold of the terrace, folded his arms. His 
sunken eyes burned like lamps in a sepulchre ; his long, 
thin body glided along in its linen robe, which was 
weighted by bells alternating with emerald balls about 
his heels. His limbs were feeble, his head oblique, 
his chin peaked, his skin was cold to the touch, and 
his yellow face, covered with deeply furrowed wrinkles, 
seemed as if contracted in a yearning, in an eternal 
chagrin. 

This man was the high priest of Tanit, and he had 
educated Salammbo. 

“ Speak ! ” said he. “ What do you wish ? ” 

“ I hoped — you almost promised me — . . .” she 
stammered, half fearing ; then suddenly continued : 
“ Why do you despise me ? What have I neglected in 
the rites? You are my teacher, and you have said to 
me that no person is more learned than I in the mys- 
teries of the goddess; but there are some of which 
you have not yet told me; is not this true, O 
father ? ” 

Schahabarim remembering the orders of Hamilcar 
concerning his daughter’s education, responded : “ No ! 
I have nothing more to teach you.” 

“ A spirit,” she resumed, “ urges me to this adora- 
tion. I have climbed the steps of Eschmoun — god of 
the planets and intelligences; I have slept under the 
golden olive tree of Melkarth — patron of all Tyrian 
colonies; I have opened the gates of Baal-Khamoun 
—medium of light and fertilisation; I have made 


56 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


sacrifices to the subterranean Kabiri— to the gods of 
the winds, the rivers, the woods, and the mountains — 
but they all are too distant, too high, too insensible — 
you understand? But Tanit mingles in my life, she 
fills my soul, and I tremble with internal dartings, as 
if she struggled to escape the confines of my body. I 
feel I am about to hear her voice, behold her face ; 
a brightness dazzles me, then I fall back again into 
the shadows.” 

Schahabarim was silent. She implored him with 
beseeching glances. At length he made a sign to dis- 
miss the slave, who was not of Canaanite race. Taan- 
ach disappeared, and the priest raised one arm in the 
air, and began : 

“ Before the gods, only darkness existed, and a 
breath stirred, heavy and indistinct, like the conscious- 
ness of a man in a dream : it contracted itself, creating 
Desire and Vapour; from Desire and Vapour pro- 
ceeded primitive Matter. This was a water, black, icy, 
profound, containing insensible monsters, incoherent 
parts of forms to be born, such as are painted on the 
walls of the sanctuaries. Then Matter condensed and 
became an egg. The egg broke : one half formed the 
earth, the other half the firmament. The sun, moon, 
winds, and clouds appeared, and at a crash of thunder 
the sentient animals awoke. Then Eschmoun unrolled 
himself in the starry sphere ! Khamoun shone bril- 
liantly in the sun ; Melkarth with his arms pushed him 
beyond Gades ; the Kabiri descended into the vol- 
canoes; and Rabetna, like one who nourishes, leaned 
over the world, pouring forth her light like milk, and 
her night like a mantle.” 

‘ And then ? ” she inquired — for the priest had re- 
lated the secrets of origins, to distract her by the 
highest, the most abstract forms ; but the desire of the 


SALAMMBO 


57 


maiden was rekindled at his last words, and Schaha- 
barim, half consenting 1 , resumed: 

“ She inspires and governs the loves of men.” 

“ The loves of men ! ” repeated Salammbo, dream- 

ily^ 

She is the soul of Carthage,” continued the priest. 

Although her influence reaches over all, it is here 
she dwells, beneath the Sacred Veil” 

“ O father ! ” exclaimed Salammbo, “ I shall see 
her, shall I not? You will take me to her? For a 
long time I have hesitated : now the desire to see her 
form devours me. Pity me; comfort me! Let us go 
to the temple ! ” 

He repulsed her by a vehement gesture, full of pride. 

“ Never ! Do you not know that to look upon her is 
death? The hermaphrodite Baals unveil only to us; 
men that we are in comprehension and women in 
weakness. Your desire is sacrilege. Be satisfied with 
the knowledge that is already yours.” 

She fell upon her knees, placing two fingers against 
her ears in sign of repentance ; sobbing, crushed by 
the priest’s words, at the same time indignant with 
him — filled equally with fear and humiliation. 

Schahabarim remained standing, more insensible 
than the stones of the terrace. He looked down upon 
her quivering at his feet, and it afforded him a measure 
of delight to see her thus suffering for his divinity 
whom he, himself, could wholly embrace. 

Already the birds sang, and a cold wind blew, and 
little clouds fluttered across the pale sky. Suddenly 
the priest perceived on the horizon behind Tunis what 
at first appeared to be a light mist floating over the 
ground; then it formed a vast curtain of grey dust 
spreading perpendicularly, and through the whirling 
mass, the heads of dromedaries, and the flash of lances 


58 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


and bucklers could be seen. It was the Barbarian 
army advancing on Carthage. 


CHAPTER IV 

BENEATH THE WALLS OF CARTHAGE 

M OUNTED on asses or running on foot, pale, 
breathless, frantic with terror, the people from 
the country around came flocking into the city. 
They were flying before the army of the Barbarians, 
which, within three days, had accomplished the journey 
from Sicca, bent on destroying Carthage. 

Almost as soon as the citizens closed the gates the 
Barbarians were seen, but they halted in the middle 
of the isthmus on the lake shore. At first they made 
no sign whatever of hostility. Some approached with 
palms in their hands, only to be driven back by the 
arrows of the Carthaginians, so intense was their 
terror. 

During the early morning and at nightfall stragglers 
prowled along the walls. A small man, carefully 
wrapped in a mantle, with his face concealed under a 
low visor, was specially noticeable. He lingered for 
hours gazing at the aqueduct, and with such concen- 
tration that he undoubtedly hoped to mislead the Car- 
thaginians as to his actual designs. He was accom- 
panied by another man, of giant-like stature, who was 
bareheaded. 

Carthage was protected throughout the entire width 
of the isthmus : first by a moat, then by a rampart of 
turf finally by a double-storied wall, thirty cubits high, 
built of hewn stones. It contained stables for three 


SALAMMBO 


59 


hundred elephants, with accommodation for their capa- 
risons, shackles, and provisions ; other stables for a 
thousand horses with their harness and fodder ; also 
barracks for twenty thousand soldiers, arsenals for 
their armour, and all the materials and necessaries of 
war. On the second story were towers, with battle- 
ments, provided on the outside with bronze bucklers 
suspended from camp irons. 

The first line of walls sheltered Malqua, the quarter 
inhabited by seafaring people and dyers of purple. 
Masts were to be seen on which purple sails were dry- 
ing, and beyond, on the last terraces, clay furnaces 
for cooking saumure. In the background the city 
was laid out in tiers, like an amphitheatre ; its high 
dwellings formed like cubes were severally built of 
stones, planks, shingles, reeds, shells, and pressed 
earth. The groves of the temples were like lakes of 
verdure in this mountain of diversely-coloured blocks. 
The public squares levelled it at unequal distances, and 
innumerable streets intercrossed from top to bottom. 
The boundaries of the three old quarters, no longer 
to be found, could be distinguished, and they rose up 
like huge rocks or spread out in enormous flat spaces 
of walls — half covered with flowers, and blackened by 
wide streaks where refuse had been thrown over. 
Streets passed through the yawning spaces like streams 
under bridges. 

The hill of the Acropolis, in the centre of Byrsa, was 
hidden under a medley of monuments — there were 
temples with torsel-columns, bearing bronze capitals 
and metal chains, cones of uncemented stones banded 
with azure, copper cupolas, marble architraves, Baby- 
lonian buttresses, and obelisks poised on their points 
like reversed torches. Peristyles reached to frontons; 
volutes appeared between colonnades; granite walls 


60 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


supported tile partitions. All these mounted one above 
another, half hidden, in a marvellous, incomprehen- 
sible fashion. Here one witnessed the succession of 
ages, and the memories of forgotten countries were 
awakened. 

Behind the Acropolis, in the red earth, the Mappalian 
road, bordered by tombs, stretched in a straight line 
from the shore to the catacombs ; then came large 
dwellings in spacious gardens; and the third quarter, 
Megara, the new city, extended to the edge of the 
cliffs, on which was a gigantic lighthouse, where 
nightly blazed a beacon. 

Carthage thus displayed herself before the soldiers 
now encamped on the plains. 

They could recognise the markets and the cross- 
roads, and disputed among themselves as to the sites 
of the various temples. Khamoun faced the Syssites, 
and had golden tiles ; Melkarth, to the left of Esch- 
moun, bore on its roof coral branches; Tanit, beyond, 
curved up through the palm-trees its copper cupola; 
and the black Moloch stood below the cisterns at the 
side of the lighthouse. 

At the angles of the frontons, on the summit of the 
walls, at the corners of the squares everywhere, were 
various divinities with their hideous heads, colossal or 
dwarfish, with enormous or with immeasurably flat- 
tened bellies, open jaws, and outspread arms, holding 
in their hands pitchforks, chains, or swords. And the 
blue sea reached away at the end of the streets, ren- 
dering the perspective still steeper. 

A tumultuous people from morning till night filled 
the streets : young boys ringing bells cried out before 
the doors of the bath-houses ; shops wherein hot drinks 
were sold smoked ; the air resounded with the clangour 
of anvils; the white cocks, consecrated to the sun, 


SALAMMBO 


61 


crowed on the terraces; oxen awaiting slaughter bel- 
lowed in the temples; slaves ran hither and thither 
bearing baskets on their heads; and in the depth of 
the porticoes now and again a priest appeared clothed 
in sombre mantle, bare-footed, wearing a conical cap. 

This spectacle of Carthage enraged the Barbarians. 
They admired her; they execrated her; they desired 
both to inhabit her and annihilate her. But what 
might there not be in the military harbor, defended 
by a triple wall? Then again, behind the city, at the 
back of Megara, higher even than the Acropolis, 
loomed up Hamilcar’s palace. 

Matho’s eyes constantly turned in that direction. He 
climbed into the olive-trees, and leaned forward, shad- 
ing his eyes with his hand ; but the gardens were de- 
serted, and the red door with the black cross remained 
.closed. 

More than a score of times he made the circuit of 
the ramparts, searching for some breach by which to 
enter. One night he threw himself into the gulf, and 
swam for three hours. He ultimately reached the foot 
of Mappals, tried to cling to and climb up the cliffs, 
but cruelly tore his knees, and crushed his nails, so he 
fell back into the water and returned defeated. 

His impotence exasperated him: he was jealous of 
this Carthage that held Salammbo, as of some one 
who might have possessed her. Maddened by these 
thoughts, all enervation left him : thenceforth he 
plunged continuously into a frenzy of reckless deeds. 
His cheeks blazed, his eyes burned, his voice rasped; 
he strode at a rapid pace across the camp, or sat on the 
shore rubbing his large sword with the sand ; he shot 
arrows at the passing vultures. His heart overflowed 
in furious speech. 

“ Let your wrath course freely like a runaway 


62 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


chariot/’ said Spendius. “ Shout ; blaspheme, ravage 
and kill ; sorrow allays itself with blood, and since you 
cannot satiate your love, gorge your hate; it will sus- 
tain you ! ” 

Matho resumed command of his soldiers, drilling 
them unmercifully. They respected him for his cour- 
age, and especially for his strength; besides, he in- 
spired in their hearts a mystic fear, for they believed 
that he communed at night with phantoms. 

The other captains were stirred by his example; 
and thus the army was very soon under fine dis- 
cipline. The Carthaginians heard from their dwellings 
the constant sound of trumpet calls, regulating the 
military exercises. At length the Barbarians advanced. 

In order to crush them in the isthmus, the Cartha- 
ginians would have required two armies to attack them 
in the rear simultaneously: the one debarking at the 
end of the Gulf of Utica, and the other at the Hot- 
Springs Mountain. But, what could the Carthaginians 
do now, with only the Sacred Legion, consisting at 
most of but six thousand men? If the Barbarians 
diverged toward the east they would join the Nomads, 
intercepting the road to Cyrene and thus the commerce 
of the desert. If they fell back to the west the Nu- 
midians would revolt. Finally, lack of food would 
force them, and sooner or later to devastate like lo- 
custs the- surrounding country ; the wealthy trembled 
for their beautiful chateaux, for their vineyards, and 
for their farms. 

Hanno proposed the most atrocious and impractic- 
able measures, such as promising a large sum of money 
for every Barbarian’s head, or that with implements 
and war engines they should fire the enemy’s camp. 
His colleague Gisco, on the contrary, advised that 
the Mercenaries should be paid. The Elders detested 


SALAMMBO 


63 


him on account of his popularity, as they dreaded to 
incur the risk of a master, and from terror of a mon- 
archy strove to weaken whatever could tend to re- 
establish such a form of government. 

Outside the fortifications were people of another 
race and of unknown origin, all porcupine hunters, 
eaters of molluscs and serpents — people who pene- 
trated the caverns, captured live hyaenas, and found 
amusement in chasing them during the evenings on 
the sands of Megara between the stelas of the tombs. 
Their cabins made of wrack and mud hung against 
the cliffs like swallows’ nests ; they lived without gov- 
ernment, without gods, pell-mell, completely naked, and 
at once both feeble and savage — during all ages cursed 
by the Carthaginians because of their unclean food. 
One morning the sentinels perceived that they had 
all gone. 

At length the members of the Grand Council deter- 
mined that they would go personally to the Barbarians’ 
camp, without collars or girdles, and with their sandals 
uncovered, like friendly neighbours. Accordingly one 
day they advanced with a tranquil step, throwing salu- 
tations to the captains, or even stopping to talk with 
the soldiers, saying that all war was now at an end, 
and they were prepared to do justice to the demands 
of the Mercenaries. 

Many of these patricians saw for the first time a 
Mercenarian camp. Instead of finding the confusion 
that they had imagined, order ruled, and a frightful 
stillness was over everything. A rampart of turf en- 
closed the army within a high wall invincible to the 
shocks of catapaults. The camp streets were kept 
sprinkled with fresh water. Through holes in the 
tents they saw lurid eyes gleaming mid the shadows. 
The stacks of spears and the suspended panoplies daz- 


64 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


zled them like mirrors. They talked in undertones, 
and seemed constantly in fear of overturning with 
their long robes some of the vast medley of objects. 

The soldiers asked for provisions, agreeing to pay 
for them out of the money that the Republic owed 
them. Oxen, sheep, guinea-fowls, dried fruits, lupins, 
as well as smoked mackerel — those excellent mackerel 
which Carthage exported with large revenue to all 
other ports — were sent to them. But the soldiers dis- 
dainfully walked around the magnificent cattle, dis- 
paraging that which they coveted, offering for a sheep 
the price of a pigeon, for three goats the value of a 
pomegranate. The eaters of unclean things presented 
themselves as arbitrators, affirming that they were 
being duped. Then they drew their swords and threat- 
ened to slay the ambassadors. 

The commissioners of the Grand Council wrote 
down the number of years’ pay due to each soldier; 
but it was now impossible to know how much the Mer- 
cenaries had originally been engaged for, and the Eld- 
ers were frightened at the immense sums they would be 
obliged to pay. It would necessitate the sale of the 
reserve of silphium, and compel them to impose a tax 
on the trading cities. The Mercenaries would be im- 
patient; already Tunis sympathised with them. 

The Rich, stunned by Hanno’s fury and by the re- 
proaches of his colleague Gisco, urged the citizens 
who might perchance know any Barbarians to go and 
see them immediately, in order to regain their friend- 
ship; such confidence would calm them. 

Tradesmen, scribes, workers from the arsenals, and 
entire families visited the Barbarians. The soldiers 
permitted all the Carthaginians to enter, but by a single 
passage, so narrow that four men abreast elbowed 
each other. 


SALAMMBO 


65 


Spendius stood against the barrier, and caused each 
one to be carefully searched. Matho faced him, exam- 
ining the passers, seeking to find some one whom he 
might have seen at the palace of Salammbo. 

The encampment resembled a town, it was so filled 
with people and movement. Yet the two distinct 
crowds, military and civic, mingled without being con- 
founded; the one dressed in linen or wool, wearing 
felt-caps pointed like pine-cones, and the other vested 
in iron, wearing metal helmets. Amid serving men 
and vendors strolled about women of all nationalities ; 
brown as ripe dates, green as olives, yellow as oranges. 
These women had been sold by sailors, or stolen from 
dens and caravans, or taken during the sacking of 
cities, that they might be wearied with lust while they 
were young, or be overwhelmed with blows when they 
were old, and die neglected on the roadside, during 
the retreats in the midst of the baggage, along with 
the abandoned beasts of burden. 

The wives of the Nomads dangled over their heels 
their square cut, tawny coloured robes, of dromedaries’ 
hair. The Cyrenaic musicians, with painted eyebrows, 
and wrapped in violet gauze, sang as they squatted on 
mats ; old negresses, with their hanging breasts, picked 
up sun-dried dung for fuel. Syracusians wore golden 
plates in their hair; Lusitanians were adorned with 
necklaces made of shells; the Gallic women wore 
wolves’ skins over their white breasts; and sturdy 
children, covered with vermin, naked, uncircumcised, 
butted the passers-by with their lusty heads, or crept 
up behind them, like young tigers, to bite their hands. 

The Carthaginians walked through the camp, 
amazed at the quantity of strange articles with which 
it teemed. The most miserable were melancholy, while 
the others strove to dissimulate their anxiety. 


66 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 

Soldiers slapped them familiarly on their shoulders, 
exhorting them to be gay; and as soon as they per- 
ceived some person of note, invited him to join their 
games; if one perchance consented to play a game of 
discs, then the soldiers managed to crush his feet; or 
in boxing, after the first pass, broke his jaw. 

* The slingers terrified the Carthaginians with their 
slings, the snake-charmers with their vipers, and the 
cavalry with their horses. These citizens, used to 
peaceful occupations, bent their heads and forced a 
smile at all the outrages. Some, assuming bravery, 
even made signs that they desired to become soldiers. 
They were set to cleave wood and to curry mules ; or 
they were buckled in armour, and rolled about like 
casks through the camp streets. Afterward, when 
they wanted to take leave, the Barbarians pulled out 
their own hair, and with grotesque contortions demon- 
strated their pretended grief. 

Many of the Mercenaries, from foolishness or preju- 
dice, really believed that all Carthaginians were very 
rich ; they followed their visitors, begging ; they asked 
for all that they wore that seemed beautiful in their 
barbaric eyes a ring, a girdle, sandals, or the fringes 
off their robes ; after the Carthaginians were utterly 
despoiled and said, “ But we have nothing left ; what 
do you want?” they would answer, “Your women! 
your lives ! ” 

In due time the military accounts were turned over 
to the captains, read to the soldiers, and definitely ap- 
proved. Then the soldiers demanded the tents, which 
were given to them— the Greek polemarchs demanded 
some of the beautiful suits of armour made in Car- 
thage ; the Grand Council voted a sum of money for 
this purpose. Then the cavalry-men insisted that it 
would be but fair for the Republic to indemnify them 


SALAMMBO 


67 


for their horses ; one affirmed that he had lost three in 
such and such a siege, and another five on a certain 
march, another fourteen over precipices. They were 
proffered the fine stallions of Hecatompylus ; but no, 
they preferred money. 

Finally they demanded their pay in silver, not with 
leather tokens, for all the grain due to them, and that 
at the highest prices it had brought during the war, 
so that they asked for one measure of meal, four hun- 
dred times more than had actually been given for a 
sack of wheat. This injustice and greed exasperated 
the Council ; nevertheless, they had to yield. 

Then the delegates of the soldiers and the Council 
were reconciled, swearing renewed amity by the genius 
of Carthage and by the gods of the Barbarians. With 
demonstrations and Oriental verbosity they exchanged 
excuses and caresses. The soldiers now demanded as 
a proof of friendship the punishment of the traitors 
who had estranged them from the Republic. 

The Carthaginians feigned that they did not com- 
prehend ; the Barbarians, explaining more clearly, 
boldly declared that they must have Hanno’s head. 
Frequently during the day they would leave their 
camp and walking along the foot of the walls cry out 
for some one to throw the Suffet’s head down to them, 
at the same time holding their robes outstretched to 
receive it. 

Perhaps the Grand Council might have yielded, had 
not a last exaction, more outrageous than all others, 
followed, for now the Mercenaries demanded in mar- 
riage for their chiefs maidens to be chosen from the 
noble families. This idea had been suggested by 
Spendius, and many thought it easy to achieve and 
strongly expedient. However, their audacious pre- 
sumption in wanting to mix with the Punic blood 


68 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


filled the citizens with such indignation that they 
brusquely told them they had nothing more to expect 
or receive from Carthage. Then the soldiers exclaimed 
that they had been basely deceived, and that if within 
three days they did not receive their pay they would 
go themselves and take it in Carthage. 

The bad faith of the Mercenaries was not quite so 
complete as the Carthaginians supposed, for Hamilcar 
had made them extravagant promises — vague, it is 
true, but solemn, and oft repeated. They had been led 
to believe that, when they landed at Carthage, the city 
would forthwith be given up to them, and that they 
should share among themselves the city treasure; 
hence, when they came, only to find their payments 
were repudiated, or would be paid with great difficulty 
and delay, the disillusion of their pride, as well as the 
rebuff to their cupidity, was severe. 

Dionysius, Pyrrhus, Agathocles, and the generals of • 
Alexander, had they not furnished examples of mar- 
vellous fortunes? The ideal of Hercules, whom the 
Canaanites confounded with the sun, illumined the hori- 
zon of the armies. They knew that soldiers from the 
ranks had worn diadems, and the reechoing fame of 
falling empires made the Gauls dream of glory in their 
oak forests, and inspired with ambition the Ethiopians 
on their native sands. But here was a nation always 
ready to utilise the courageous; and the thief driven 
from his tribe, the parricide skulking on the highways, 
the sacrilegious pursued by the gods, all the starving' 
and all desperadoes endeavoured to reach the port, 
where the agents of Carthage recruited soldiers. Usu- 
ally the Republic kept its promises; however, in this 
case the strength of its avarice had dragged it into a 
perilous infamy. The Numidians, the Libyans, the 
whole of Africa, would now be ready to throw them- 


SALAMMBO 


69 


selves upon Carthage. The sea only remained open 
to it, and there it would come into collision with Rome : 
so, like a man assailed by murderers, it felt death lurk- 
ing all around. 

The Council decided that it would be necessary to 
have recourse again to Gisco, for the Barbarians would 
probably look favorably on the intervention of their 
former general. One morning the chains of the port 
were lowered, and three flat boats passed through the 
canal of the Taenia and entered the lake. 

At the prow of the first boat Gisco could be seen ; 
behind him, rising higher than a catafalque, loomed 
up an enormous chest, ornamented with rings like 
pendant wreaths. Following, appeared the legion of 
interpreters coiffured like sphinxs, with parrots tat- 
tooed on their breasts. Friends and slaves followed, 
all without arms, and in such a multitude that they 
touched shoulder to shoulder. These three long, 
crowded boats solemnly advanced amid the cheers of 
the expectant army watching them from the shore. 

As soon as Gisco landed, the soldiers rushed to 
meet him. He soon erected, with sacks piled on top 
of each other, a kind of tribunal, and declared that he 
would not leave the place until he had paid them all 
in full. 

There was an outburst of applause which prevented 
his speaking for some time. Then he censured the 
wrong-doing of the Republic and the wrong-doing 
of the Barbarians ; the great fault had been with those 
few who had mutinied, with such extreme violence 
as to have alarmed Carthage. The best proof of the 
Republic’s present good intentions was the fact that 
it had sent him — the eternal adversary of Hanno — to 
treat with them. They must not suppose that the 
people would be so foolish as to anger brave men, 


70 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


or so ungrateful as to discount their services. Gisco 
prepared to pay the soldiers, beginning with . the 
Libyans. As they declared the lists incorrect, he set 
them aside. 

They defiled before him by nations, and raised their 
fingers to indicate the term of years they had served. 
Each man successively was marked on his left arm 
with green paint; scribes made with a stiletto holes 
on sheets of lead ; while others drew out the money 
from open coffers. 

Presently a man passed tramping heavily, like an ox. 

“ Come up near to me/’ said Gisco, suspecting some 
fraud. “ How many years have you served ? ” 

“ Twelve,” responded the Libyan. 

Gisco slipped his fingers under the fellow’s chin, 
as the chin-piece of the helmets produced, after being 
worn for a long time, two callosities that were called 
carroubes, and “ having carroubes ” was synonymous 
to being a veteran. 

“ Thief ! ” — exclaimed Grisco. “ That which is miss- 
ing on your face should be on your shoulders ! ” At 
this he tore off the man’s tunic, disclosing a back cov- 
ered with bleeding sores. In truth he was a slave 
labourer of Hippo-Zarytus. Yells arose, and the cul- 
prit was beheaded. 

When night fell, Spendius went and roused up the 
Libyans, saying to them : 

“ When the Ligurians, the Greeks, Balearics, and all 
the men of Italy shall be paid, they will return to their 
native countries, but you others must remain in Africa ; 
scattered among the tribes without any means of de- 
fence ! Then the Republic will revenge itself ! Beware 
of the journey! Are you going to believe all these 
speeches ? The two Suffets are in accord ! This one 
imposes your confidence ! Do you recollect the island 


SALAMMBO 


71 


of bones, and Xanthippus, whom they sent back to 
Sparta on a rotten galley ? ” 

“ How are we to behave ? ” demanded they. 

“ Be circumspect,” replied Spendius. 

The two next days were spent in paying the people 
of Magdala, Leptis and Hecatompylus. Spendius 
spread fresh dissensions among the Gauls, saying: 

“ They are paying the Libyans, afterward they will 
discharge the Greeks, then the Balearics, then the 
Asiatics, and all the others ! But you, who are but 
a small number, will receive nothing! You will see 
your country no more ! You have no vessels ! They 
will kill you to save the expense of your keep ! ” 

The Gauls set out to find Gisco. Autharitus, the 
man whom he had wounded in Hamilcar’s gardens, 
tried to speak with him, but was repulsed by the slaves, 
and disappeared, swearing revenge. 

Demands and complaints multiplied. The most per- 
sistent entered the Sufifet’s tent at night, and, to move 
him to pity, they would take his fingers and make him 
feel their toothless mouths, their emaciated arms, and 
the cicatrices of their wounds. Those who were not 
yet paid became exasperated; those who had received 
their pay demanded an additional sum for their horses ; 
and the vagabonds and outcasts assumed soldiers’ arms 
and declared that they had been 'forgotten. Every 
moment men surged forward in eddies; the tents 
cracked under the strain, and finally toppled over ; the 
multitude, giving vent to yells, crowded between the 
ramparts, swaying and surging from the entrance to 
the centre of the camp. When the tumult became ex- 
cessive, Gisco rested one elbow on his ivory sceptre, 
and gazed motionless over the sea of faces, with his 
fingers buried in his beard. 

Matho often went aside to talk with Spendius, but 


72 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


ever took his place again facing the Suffet ; and Gisco 
could feel perpetually his eyes like flaming fire-lances 
darting toward him. Frequently they interchanged 
words of abuse, above the heads of the crowd, but 
neither understood the other. Meanwhile, the distri- 
bution continued, and the Suffet found ways of re- 
moving every obstacle. 

The Greeks quibbled about the differences in the cur- 
rency; but he furnished such satisfactory explanations 
that they withdrew without a murmur. The Negroes 
demanded their pay in the white shells used in trad- 
ing through the interior of Africa ; he offered to send 
there and bring a supply to Carthage ; then, like the 
others, they accepted the silver money. The Balearians 
had been promised something better — women. The 
Suffet informed them that an entire caravan of vir- 
gins was expected for them ; but the road was long, 
and it would require six moons more. However, when 
they arrived at their destination, they would be fat, 
and well rubbed with benzoin, and they would be sent 
on vessels to the Balearic ports. 

Suddenly Zarxas, now fine and vigorous, leaped 
like a mountebank upon the shoulders of his friends, 
and cried out, “ What have you reserved for the dead?” 
pointing to the gate of Khamoun. 

Under the last rays of the sun the brass plates that 
decorated the gate from top to bottom were refulgent, 
and the Barbarians believed that they saw on them 
a track of blood. Every time Gisco tried to speak, 
their yelk began again ; finally he decended with slow 
steps, and shut himself up in his tent. 

At sunrise, when he went forth again, his inter- 
preters, who slept outside his tent, did not stir. They 
lay on their backs, eyes fixed, tongues protruding be- 
tween their teeth, and their faces bluish ; white froth 


SALAMMBO 


73 


oozed from their nostrils, their limbs were stiff, as 
if they had been frozen during the night, and around 
the neck of each was drawn a noose of rushes. 

From this time the rebellion increased. The mur- 
der of the Balearians recalled by Zarxas added fuel 
to the suspicions set brewing by Spendius. They im- 
agined that the Republic was always seeking to de- 
ceive them. It must be ended! They could do with- 
out interpreters ! Xarxas, with a sling around his 
head, sang war songs ; Autharitus brandished his great 
sword ; Spendius would whisper something to one, and 
to another give a sword. The most powerful endea- 
voured to pay themselves ; but those less enraged re- 
quested that the distribution continue. 

During this excitement none laid down their wea- 
pons, and their wrath centred upon Gisco in a tumul- 
tuous hatred. Some went up beside him. So long 
as they only vociferated their wrongs, they were 
patiently listened to ; but the moment they uttered the 
slightest word in his favour they were immediately 
stoned, or their heads were cut off by a blow from 
behind. The heap of sacks soon became red as an 
altar during sacrifice. 

They became terrible after eating, and when they 
had drunk wine ! This was an indulgence forbidden 
under pain of death in the Punic armies ; but in deri- 
sion of her discipline they raised their cups toward 
Carthage. Afterward they turned on the slaves of 
the exchequer and began killing them. The word 
strike , different in each language, was understood by 
all. 

Gisco*understood that his country had forsaken him, 
but in spite of this he would not dishonour it. When 
the soldiers recalled to him that the government had 
promised them vessels, he swore by Moloch to furnish 


74 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


them himself at his own expense, and pulling off his 
necklace of blue stones threw it to the crowd as a 
pledge of his faith. 

Then the Africans claimed their grain, according 
to the arrangement with the Grand Council. Gisco 
spread out the accounts of the Syssites, traced with 
violet paint on sheep-skins, and read all that had en- 
tered into Carthage, day by day, month by month. 

Suddenly he paused ; his eyes opened wide, as if 
he had discovered between the figures his own death 
sentence. In effect the Elders had made fraudulent 
reductions, and the grain sold during the most calami- 
tous period of the war was rated so low in these ac- 
counts that only the blindest person could have been 
deceived. 

“ Speak ! ” cried they ; “ louder ! Oh ! he strives to 
lie, the coward ! We distrust you ! ” 

He hesitated for some time; at length he again 
took up his task. 

The soldiers, without suspecting the accounts ren- 
dered by the Syssites to be inaccurate, accepted them. 
The abundance that they found in Carthage threw 
them into a jealous fury. They broke open the syca- 
more coffer; it was now three-quarters empty, but 
having seen such enormous sums taken from it, they 
had fancied it inexhaustible. Had Gisco hidden some 
in his tent? The soldiers climbed over the sacks, led 
on by Matho, yelling : 

“ The money ! the money ! ” 

Gisco at last responded. 

“ Let your general give it to you ! ” 

Without speaking further, he looked at them with 
his large yellow eyes and long pale face, whiter than 
his beard. An arrow whistled toward him, and was 
arrested by its feathered barb, holding fast by his 


SALAMMBO 


75 


broad gold earring; a thread of blood trickled down 
from his tiara upon his shoulder. 

At a gesture from Matho all advanced upon Gisco. 
He held out his arms ; Spendius with a running knot 
fastened his wrists together ; some one pitched him 
over, and he disappeared in the prevailing disorder 
of the crowd, which was tumbling over the sacks. 
They completely ransacked his tent, finding nothing 
but the necessities of life ; and on further search, three 
images of Tanit, and in a monkey’s hide, a black 
stone, said to have fallen from the moon. 

The numerous Carthaginians who had accompanied 
Gisco were all of the war party, and were men of 
importance. They were taken outside of the tents, 
and thrown into the pit for filth. They were attached 
by chains to stakes driven in the earth, and their food 
was held out to them on the points of javelins. 

Over all of these captives Autharitus kept surveil- 
lance, heaping invectives upon them; but as they did 
not comprehend his language, they made no response, 
and the Gaul would, from time to time, throw stones 
in their faces, to make them cry out. 

The next day a languor possessed the army. Ac- 
cording as their rage subsided they became anxious. 
Matho suffered from a strange melancholy. It seemed 
to him that he had indirectly insulted Salammbo : these 
rich men were like a dependence of her person. He 
sat at night on the edge of their pit, and in their moans 
fancied he heard something akin to the voice, of which 
his heart was full. 

Meanwhile, all reproached the Libyans, who alone 
were paid. But though national antipathies and per- 
sonal hatreds were reviving, everyone felt the present 
danger of yielding to them. Reprisals after such an 


76 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


outrage would be formidable. They must by common 
adhesion ward off the vengeance of Carthage. Con- 
ventions and harangues were continuous ; everyone 
talked ; no one was listened to ; and Spendius, ordi- 
narily so fluent, now at all proposals shook his head. 

One evening he carelessly asked Matho if there were 
any springs in the interior of the city. 

“ Not one ! ” responded Matho. 

The next day Spendius led him to the lake shore, 
“ Master, if your heart is brave, I will conduct you 
to Carthage/’ 

“ How ? ” breathlessly asked Matho. 

“ Swear to execute my orders, and to follow me 
like a shadow,” said Spendius. 

Matho raised his arm toward the planet Cabira, 
saying : 

“ By Tanit I swear it ! ” 

Spendius resumed : 

“ To-morrow, after sunset, await me at the foot of 
the aqueduct between the ninth and tenth arcades. 
Bring with you an iron pike, a crestless helmet, and 
leathern sandals.” 

The aqueduct to which he referred traversed 
obliquely the entire isthmus — a work much enlarged 
later by the Romans. Notwithstanding the disdain of 
Carthage for other peoples, she had awkwardly bor- 
rowed this new invention from Rome; even as Rome 
herself had imitated the Punic galleys. It was of a 
broad low architecture of five ranges of superposed 
arches, with buttresses at the base and lions’ heads at 
the summit, which abutted on the western side of the 
Acropolis, where it plunged under the city, pouring 
almost a river into the cisterns of Megara. 

At the hour agreed upon, Spendius found Matho 
waiting. He fastened a sort of harpoon to the end 


SALAMMBO 


77 


of a long rope, and whirled it rapidly like a sling; as 
the iron caught in the masonry, moving one behind 
the other, they climbed up along the wall. After reach- 
ing the first story, each time that the harpoon was 
thrown it fell back ; hence, in order to discover some 
fissure, they were compelled to walk on the edge of 
the cornice. On each row of arches thev found it be- 
came narrower. At times the rope slackened, and 
again it threatened to break. At length they attained 
the upper platform. Spendius leaned over, sounding 
the stones from time to time with his hands. 

It is here — said he — “ we will begin ! ” and press- 
ing on the pike Matho had brought, he disjointed one 
of the stones. 

In the distance below them they perceived a troop 
of cavalry galloping, without bridles on their horses, 
their gold bracelets bounding in the loose draperies 
of their ample mantles. In advance could be distin- 
guished a man crowned with ostrich-plumes, holding 
a lance in each hand as he galloped. 

“ Nan*’ Havas ! ” exclaimed Matho. 

“ What matter ? ” replied Spendius, leaping into the 
hole he had just made by displacing a stone. Matho, 
by his orders, tried to prize out one of the blocks of 
stone, but on account of lack of space he could not 
move his elbows. 

“ We shall return,” — said Spendius — “ go first.” 

Then they ventured into the water-channel. It 
reached up to their waists; soon they staggered, and 
were obliged to swim. Their limbs knocked against 
the inner walls of the very narrow duct and as they 
progressed, the water gradually rose till it almost 
reached the superior stones, against which they tore 
their faces, as the swift current carried them along. 
An air heavy as that of a sepulchre pressed upon their 


78 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


lungs, and with their heads under their arms, their 
knees together, elongating themselves as much as pos- 
sible, they passed like arrows through the denseness, 
stifled, gasping for breath, nearly dead. Suddenly all 
was dark before them— the speed of the water re- 
doubled. They sank. When they rose to the sur- 
face again they remained for some minutes floating 
on their backs, inhaling the delicious pure air. 
Arcades one behind another opened out amid wide 
walls separating the basins ; all were full, and the 
water continued as one unbroken sheet the length of 
the cisterns. Through the air-holes in the cupola of 
the ceiling, a pale brightness spread over the water 
like discs of light ; the darkness thickened toward the 
walls as they retreated to an indefinite .extent — here 
the slightest noise made a tremendous echo. 

Spendius and Matho began swimming again, and 
passing the openings of the arches, crossed numerous 
chambers in succession : two similar but much smaller 
rows of basins extended parallel on each side. They 
lost themselves, and were compelled to turn and swim 
back for some distance. Something offered a footing 
under their feet: it was the pavement of the gallery 
running the length of the cistern. With great caution 
they proceeded to feel the walls, striving to detect an 
issue ; but their feet slipped, and they fell into the deep 
basin; they struggled up, but again fell back. As 
they struck out once more they experienced a fright- 
ful fatigue in swimming — their limbs seemed about 
to dissolve in the water — their eyes closed — they 
seemed in a death agony. 

Spendius struck his hand against the bar of a grat- 
ing ; both men shook it vigorously ; it yielded, and they 
found themselves on the steps of a stairway closed at 
the top by a bronze door. With the point of a dagger 


SALAMMBO 


79 


they wrested free the bolt, which was opened from the 
outside, and at once gained access to pure, fresh air. 

The night was full of silence, and the sky seemed 
an immeasurable height; clumps of trees projected be- 
yond the long lines of walls ; the entire city was sleep- 
ing; and the fires 6f the advance posts shone through 
the night like lost stars. 

Spendius, who had spent three years confined in the 
ergastulum, knew the city but imperfectly. Matho, 
however, conjectured that in order to reach Hamil- 
car’s palace they must go to the left and cross the 
Mappalian section. 

“ No ! ” said Spendius ; “ take me to the temple of 
Tanit.” 

Matho tried to speak. 

“ Remember ! ” said the former slave, as he lifted his 
right arm, and pointed to the resplendent planet of 
Cabira. 

Matho silently turned toward the Acropolis. They 
crept cautiously along the enclosures of cactus bor- 
dering the pathways. The water trickled from their 
limbs upon the dust; their wet sandals were soundless. 
Spendius, with eyes more gleaming than torches, 
peered into the bushes at every step. He groped his 
way behind Matho, constantly clutching in his hands, 
ready for immediate action, the two daggers he wore 
attached to his arms by a leather band below the arm- 
pits. 


80 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


CHAPTER V 


TAN IT! 


ATHO and Spendius now left the gardens, but 



soon found themselves confronted by the ram- 


parts of Megara. In a little while, however, 
they discovered a breach in the wall, through which 
they passed. 

The ground descended, forming a broad valley. It 
was an excellent point for a reconnaissance. 

“ Listen,” said Spendius ; “ and above all, fear noth- 
ing: I will fulfil my promise;” and with an air of re- 
flection he paused, as if to measure his words. “ You 
remember, just at sunrise, when we stood on the ter- 
race of Salammbo’s palace, and I pointed out Carthage 
to you ? We were strong that day, but you would not 
listen to me.” Then in a graver voice he pursued: 
“ Master, there is, in the sanctuary of Tanit, a mys- 
terious veil, fallen from Heaven, that covers the god- 
dess.” 

“ I know that,” replied Matho. 

Spendius resumed : “ It is divine, because it is a part 
of Tanit. . . . The gods reside where their images 
dwell. It is because Carthage possesses it that Car- 
thage is great.” Then leaning forward he whispered, 
“ I have brought you with me, to take this veil ! ” 

Matho recoiled with horror. “ Go ! get some one 
else! I will not aid in such an abominable crime.” 

“ But Tanit is your enemy,” said Spendius. “ She 
persecutes you, and is destroying you with her anger. 
You can thus revenge yourself. She will obey you. 
You will become almost immortal and invincible ! ” 


SALAMMBO 


81 


Matho bowed his head low at this suggestion, and 
Spendius continued : “ If we succumb, the army will 
become self-annihilated. We have neither escape, suc- 
cour, nor pardon to hope for ! What punishment of 
the gods can you dread when once you possess, in your 
own person, their strength? Do you prefer to perish 
miserably the night of a defeat under the shelter of a 
bush, or be burned at the stake amid the outrages 
heaped upon you by the populace ? Master, some day 
you will enter Carthage between the colleges of pon- 
tiffs, who will kiss your sandals; and if the veil of 
Tanit then weighs upon you, reestablish it in her 
temple. Follow me ! Come, take it ! ” 

A terrible longing consumed Matho : he would have 
liked to abstain from the sacrilege, and yet desired 
to possess the veil. He thought to himself that per- 
haps he did not desire to take it merely to monopolise 
its virtues. However, he did not probe to the founda- 
tion of his intentions, but paused at the limit where his 
thoughts frightened him. 

We will go on,” he said; and they moved forward 
with rapid strides, side by side, without speaking. 

The ground ascended, and the habitations were 
closer together ; they turned aside amid the darkness in 
the narrow streets. The esparto-hangings closing the 
dborways beat against the walls ; camels ruminated be- 
fore heaps of cut grass in a square ; then they passed 
under a gallery covered over with foliage, where a 
pack of dogs barked at them. The space suddenly 
grew wider, and they recognised the western fagade 
of the Acropolis. At the foot of Brysa extended a 
long, black mass; it was the temple of Tanit, a col- 
lection of monuments and gardens, courts and fore- 
courts, hemmed in by a low wall of loose stones, over 
which Spendius and Matho vaulted. 


82 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


This first enclosure surrounded a grove of plane- 
trees, planted as a precaution against the pest and in- 
fections of the air. Here and there were scattered 
tents in which, during the day, were sold depilatory 
pastes, perfumes, clothing, crescent-shaped cakes, im- 
ages of the goddess, and models of the temple carved 
in blocks of alabaster. They had now nothing to fear, 
as, on the nights that the planet did not appear, all 
rites were suspended; still Matho slackened his pace;' 
he stopped before the three ebony steps leading to the 
second enclosure. 

“ Proceed ! ” urged Spendius. 

Pomegranates, almonds, cypresses, and myrtles, al- 
ternated regularly, and were as motionless as bronze 
foliage ; the path, paved with blue stones, creaked un- 
der their feet ; and roses in full bloom hung in a bower 
over the long alley. They came to an oval opening, 
protected by a grating. Then Matho, who was alarmed 
by the silence, said to Spendius : 

“ It is here that the Sweet and the Bitter Waters are 
mingled.” 

“ I have seen all that,” replied the former slave, “ in 
the town of Maphug, in Syria.” 

By a flight of six silver steps, they entered the third 
enclosure. An enormous cedar occupied the centre; 
its lowest branches were covered with scraps of fabrics 
and necklaces appended by the faithful. They went a 
few. steps more, and the fagade of the temple appeared 
before them. 

Two long porticoes, with architraves reposing on 
dwarfish pillars, flanked a quadrangular tower, adorned 
on the platform by a crescent moon. At the angles of 
the porticoes, and at the four corners of the tower, 
were vases full of burning aromatics. Pomegranates 
and colocynths loaded the capitals : interlacements and 


SALAMMBO 


83 


lozenges alternated regularly with garlands of pearls, 
festooning the walls, and a hedge of silver filigree 
formed a wide semicircle before a brass stairway lead- 
ing down from the vestibule. 

At the entrance, between a stela of gold and a stela 
of emerald, was a stone cone; Matho kissed his right 
hand as he passed it. 

The first room was very lofty ; innumerable open- 
ings pierced the vaulted ceiling, through which the 
stars could be seen. All around the wall reed-baskets 
were heaped up with beards and hair, first indications 
of adolescence ; and in the centre of the circular apart- 
ment the body of a woman rose from a pedestal which 
was covered with breasts. Fat, bearded, with eyelids 
lowered, she appeared to be smiling ; her hands crossed 
the lower part of her gross abdomen — polished by the 
kisses of her votaries. 

Then they found themselves in the open air in a 
transverse corridor, where a small altar stood against 
an ivory gate, barring the passage. Beyond this the 
priests alone might pass — for the temple was not a 
place for the congregation of the people, but the par- 
ticular abode of its divinity. 

“ The undertaking is impossible,” exclaimed Matho. 
“ You did not remember this ; let us go back.” 

Spendius was carefully examining the walls. He 
coveted the veil : not that he reposed confidence in its 
virtues, for Spendius believed only in the Oracle; but 
he was persuaded that if the Carthaginians were de- 
prived of the veil they would fall into great conster- 
nation. 

To discover some outlet, they went round to the 
the back. Under the turpentine trees could be seen 
little buildings of various shapes. Here and there ap- 
peared a stone phallus ; and large stags tranquilly wan- 


84 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


dered about, crushing under their cloven hoofs the 
fallen pine-cones. 

They retraced their steps between two long parallel 
galleries, from which tiny cells opened out. Tam- 
bourines and cymbals hung on the cedar columns. Ex- 
tended on mats outside were women asleep. Their 
bodies were so greased with unguents that they ex- 
haled an odour of aromatics and extinguished perfum- 
ing pans; and they were so covered with tattooing, 
collars-, bracelets, vermilion, and antimony, that, but 
for the movement of their breasts, they might easily 
have been mistaken for idols. 

Lotuses were clustered round a fountain, where 
swam fish like Salammbo’s; then in the background, 
against the wall of the temple, spread a vine, with ten- 
drils of glass bearing clusters of emerald grapes ; rays 
from the precious stones made a play of light between 
the painted columns over the faces of the sleeping 
women. 

Matho felt suffocated in the warm atmosphere that 
pressed upon him from the cedar compartments. All 
these symbols of fecundation, the lights, the perfumes, 
and the exhalations overcame him. Through this mys- 
tic bewilderment he dreamed of Salammbo; she was 
confused in his mind with the goddess herself, and his 
passion grew stronger, unfolding and spreading itself 
from the depths of his being, as the great lotuses blos- 
soming on the surface of the water. 

Spendius calculated what sums of money he could 
have made in former days by the sale of these sleeping 
women, and with a rapid glance in passing, he com- 
puted the value of the gold necklaces. 

The temple, on this side as on the other, was im- 
penetrable. They retraced their steps behind the first 
chamber. While Spendius sought to ferret out an en- 


SALAMMBO 


85 


trance, Matho, prostrate before the ivory gate, im- 
plored Tanit, supplicating her not to permit their 
contemplated sacrilege. He endeavoured to appease 
her by caressing words such as one might address to 
an angry being. Meanwhile Spendius descried above 
the door a narrow aperture. 

“ Stand up ! ” said Spendius. 

Matho complied, putting his back against the wall, 
standing erect, while Spendius, placing one foot in his 
hands and the other on his head, was enabled to reach 
the air-hole, through which he crawled and disap- 
peared. Then Matho felt the knotted rope that Spen- 
dius had wound about his body before entering the 
cisterns, strike his shoulder. Clutching it with both 
hands, he drew himself up until he reached the open- 
ing, through which he crawled, and found himself be- 
side Spendius, in a large hall full of shadow. 

An attempt like this was unthought-of. The inade- 
quacy of the means to prevent it showed that it was 
deemed impossible. The inspired terrors, more than 
the walls, defend such sanctuaries. Matho at every 
step expected to die. 

A light gleamed in the extremity of the darkness; 
they drew nearer. It was a lamp burning in a shell 
placed on the pedestal of a statue wearing the cap of 
the Kabiri. Diamond discs were strewn over her long 
blue robe, and chains, passing under the pavement 
stones, attached her heels to. the ground. At the sight 
of this idol Mathos suppressed a scream, stammering, 

“ Ah 1 behold her ! behold her ! ” . . . Spendius took 
up the lamp, moving it about to light himself. 

“How impious you are!” murmured Matho; and 
yet he followed him. 

They entered an apartment containing nothing ex- 
cept a black painting representing woman. Her legs 


86 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


reached to the top of one of the walls ; her body filled 
the entire ceiling ; from her navel hung suspended by a 
thread an enormous egg, and the remainder of her 
body, her head downward, descended the other wall 
to the level of the pavement, where her finger-points 
touched. 

To pass on further they drew aside a tapestry; a 
puff of wind extinguished the light, and they groped 
about, bewildered by the complications of the archi- 
tecture. Suddenly they felt under their feet something 
strangely soft. Sparks crackled and sprang ; they 
seemed to tread on fire. Spendius patted the floor with 
his hands, and could feel that it was carefully carpeted 
with lynx-skins. Then it seemed to them that a thick, 
moist rope, cold and clammy, slid between their legs. 
Through the fissures cut in the wall, thin rays of white- 
ness entered ; they moved on by these uncertain streaks 
of light ; presently they distinguished a large black ser- 
pent, as it darted quickly away and disappeared. 

“ Let us fly ! ” exclaimed Matho. “ It is she ! I feel 
her ! She comes ! ” 

“No! no,” responded Spendius, “the temple is 
empty.” 

A dazzling light made them lower their eyes ; all 
about them were innumerable beasts, emaciated, pant- 
ing, extending their claws ; those above were confused 
with those beneath in a horrible disorder, most fright- 
ful to behold. Serpents had feet; bulls had wings; 
fishes with human heads d^oured fruits ; flowers blos- 
somed in crocodiles’ jaws; and elephants, with their 
trunks elevated, floated through the air as freely and 
proudly as eagles. A terrible exertion distended their 
imperfect or manifold members. They seemed as they 
thrust out their tongues to be fain to exhale their souls 
with their breath. All forms were found there, as if the 


SALAMMBO 


87 


receptacle of germs had burst and emptied itself over 
the walls of the hall. 

Twelve blue crystal globes encircled the room, sup- 
ported on monsters resembling tigers. Their eyeballs 
protruded like those of snails, and menacingly curving 
their thick-set backs, they turned toward the farther 
part of the hall, where, radiant on an ivory chariot, was 
enthroned the supreme Rabbet, the Omnifecund, the 
last-imagined. 

Tortoise shells, plumes, flowers, and birds were pro- 
fusely heaped up about the idol, reaching to her waist. 
Silver cymbals hung from her ears and touched her 
cheeks. Her large fixed eyes stared upon the intrud- 
ers; a luminous gem set in an obscene symbol on her 
forehead lighted the hall, and was reflected above the 
entrance in the red copper mirrors. 

Matho took a step forward, a stone receded under 
the pressure of his heels, and behold ! all the spheres 
revolved, the monsters roared, music rose melodious, 
swelling forth like the harmony of the planets; the 
tumultuous soul of Tanit gushed and expanded. She 
was about to rise, and with outstretched arms fill the 
sanctuary. Suddenly the monsters closed their jaws, 
and the crystal globes revolved no longer. 

Then a solemn modulation coursed through the air, 
lasting for some time, and finally died away. 

The veil ! exclaimed Spendius. Nowhere could 
it be seen. Where was it to be found ? How discover 
it ? . And if the priests had hidden it ! Matho experi- 
enced an anguish of his heart, like a deception in his 
faith. 

“ Come this way ! ” whispered Spendius. Guided by 
an inspiration, he led Matho behind Tank’s chariot, 
where a slit a cubit wide penetrated the wall from the 
top to the bottom. Through this they entered into a 


88 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


small, round room, so lofty that it resembled the in- 
terior of a column. In the centre was a large black 
stone, semi-spherical, like a tambourine ; flames burned 
above it, and an ebony cone was erected at the back, 
bearing a head and two arms. Beyond appeared a 
cloud wherein stars scintillated ; in the depths of its 
folds were figures representing Eschmoun, the Kabiri, 
many of the monsters they had already seen, the sacred 
beasts of the Babylonians, and numerous other un- 
known creatures. This passed like a mantle under the 
face of the idol, and ascending it spread out over the 
wall, hanging by the corners ; it was at the same time 
bluish — like night ; yellow — like dawn ; and crimson — 
like the sun ; harmonious, diaphanous, glittering, and 
light. 

This was the mantle of the goddess, the sacred Za- 
irnph, which no one might behold ! Both men grew 
pale. 

“ Take it! ” said Matho. Spendius did not hesitate, 
but, leaning on the idol, unfastened the veil, which 
sank upon the ground. Matho placed one hand be- 
neath it, and put his head through the opening in the 
middle; then he completely enveloped himself in the 
Zaimph, and spread out his arms the better to contem- 
plate its splendour. 

“ Let us go ! ” said Spendius. 

Matho stood panting, with his eyes riveted on the 
pavement. Suddenly he exclaimed : 

“ But, what if I now go to her ? I no longer need 
fear her beauty! What can she compass against me? 
Behold, I am more than a man ! I can traverse flames ! 
I can walk on the sea! Transport possesses me! Sa- 
lammbo! Salammbo! I am thy master ! ” 

His voice thundered. He appeared to Spendius of 
greater height, and transfigured. 


SALAMMBO 


89 


Footsteps drew near; a door opened and a man ap- 
peared, a priest with a tall cap peering about with wide- 
open eyes. Before he could make a sign, Spendius 
rushed upon him, grappled him and buried the two 
daggers in his sides. His head rang upon the stone 
pavement. 

They paused, as motionless as the body, listening. 
They heard nothing but the moaning of the wind 
through the half-open door. It led into a narrow pas- 
sage. Spendius entered, followed by Matho. They 
almost immediately found themselves in the third en- 
closure, between the lateral porticoes among the quar- 
ters occupied by the priests. They hastened, hoping 
there might be some short way out behind the cells. 

Spendius, crouching on the edge of the fountain, 
washed his blood-stained hands. The women still 
slept; the emerald vine shone. They resumed their 
way. 

Something ran behind them under the trees, and 
Matho, who wore the veil, frequently felt a gentle tug 
at the fringe ; it was a large cynocephalus, one of those 
that lived at liberty in the precincts of the temple. This 
creature clung to the veil as if it were conscious of the 
theft; nevertheless they did not dare to strike it, fear- 
ful that it might cry more loudly. Suddenly its anger 
seemed to subside, and it trotted beside them, swinging 
its body and its long hanging arms. 

On reaching the barrier it bounded into a palm-tree. 

Leaving the last enclosure, they diverged toward 
Hamilcar’s palace, Spendius seeing that it would be 
useless to endeavour to dissuade Matho from, his 
course. 

They went by the Tanners’ street, through the square 
of Muthumbal, the vegetable-market, and the cross- 
roads of Cynasyn. At the corner of a wall a man re- 


90 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


coiled, frightened by the sparkling object that passed 
through the darkness. 

“ Hide the Zaimph,” whispered Spendius. 

Other people passed, but they were unobserved. 

At length they reached the mansions of Megara. 
The lighthouse, built at the back on the summit of the 
cliff, lit up the sky with a large, clear, red light ; and 
the shadow of the palace, with its rising terraces, pro- 
jected over the gardens like an immense pyramid. 
They entered the gardens through a hedge of jujube 
trees, cutting off obstructing branches with their pon- 
iards. Everything bore evidence of the Mercenaries' 
recent feast and depredations : the paddocks were 
broken down ; the watercourses were dried up ; the 
doors of the ergastulum stood open ; no one was visible 
about the kitchens or cellars. They were surprised at 
the silence, broken only by the hoarse breathing of the 
elephants moving about in their paddocks, and the 
crepitations from the lighthouse, where a pile of aloes 
was burning. 

Matho continued, repeating : “ Where is she ? I must 
see her ; take me to her.” 

“ It is madness,” replied Spendius ; “ she will sum- 
mon her slaves, and, in spite of your strength, you will 
be slain ! ” 

They attained the stairway of the galleys. Matho 
raised his head, and imagined he could see high above 
a dim light softly radiating. Spendius tried to detain 
him, but he sprang swiftly up the steps. 

In being again in these places where he had previ- 
ously seen her, the interval that had elapsed was in- 
stantly effaced from his memory. A moment ago she 
was chanting between the tables — she had just disap- 
peared — and ever since he seemed to have been climb- 
ing that stairway. The sky was covered with fire ; the 


SALAMMBO 


91 


sea filled the horizon ; and at every step an increasing 
immensity surrounded him ; he continued to climb with 
that strange facility that one feels in dreams. 

The rustling of the veil touching against the stones 
recalled his new power, but, in the excess of his hope, 
he no longer knew what to do ; this uncertainty alarmed 
him. From time to time he pressed his face against the 
quadrangular openings in the closed apartments, and 
in many he fancied he could faintly see sleepers within. 

The last story was narrower, and formed a sort of 
thimble on the top of the terraces. Matho slowly 
walked around it. A milky light filled the talc-sheets 
which closed the little openings in the wall, and, in their 
symmetrical arrangement resembled in the darkness 
rows of fine pearls. Matho’s heart thrilled as he recog- 
nised the red door with the black cross. He felt as if 
he must fly. He pushed the door, and it opened. 

A suspended lamp, fashioned like a galley, burned 
at the extreme end of the room, and three rays escap- 
ing from its silver keel, trembled over the high red 
wainscoting, which was decorated with black bands. A 
number of small gilded beams formed the ceiling, with 
amethysts and topazes set in the knots of the wood. 
Stretched against the wall of both sides of the room 
were very low couches made of white leathern straps ; 
and shell-like arches opened in the depth of the wall, 
from which many garments in disorder hung down to 
the floor. 

An onyx step surrounded an oval basin, on the edge 
of which rested a pair of dainty serpent-skin slippers, 
and beside them an alabaster pitcher. Wet footprints 
were clearly defined on the pavement beyond, and the 
vapours of exquisite perfumes floated everywhere. 

Matho glided over the pavement, encrusted with 
gold, mother-of-pearl, and glass ; and, despite the high- 


92 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


ly polished surface, it seemed to him that his feet sank, 
as if he were walking in sand. Behind the silver 
lamp he noticed a large azure square, suspended in 
the air by four cords ; he drew toward it, with back 
bent and mouth open. Strewn about the room among 
purple cushions were flamingoes’ wings, with handles 
of black coral branches, tortoise-shell combs, cedar cas- 
kets, and ivory spatulas. There were rows of rings, 
and bracelets hanging from antelopes’ horns ; and in a 
cleft in the walls, on a reed lattice, were clay vases, 
filled with water cooled by the incoming breezes. Fre- 
quently Matho struck his foot, as the floor was of un- 
equal heights, making the chamber like a succession of 
apartments. At the far end a silver balustrade sur- 
rounded a carpet, painted with beautiful flowers. He 
reached the suspended couch, beside which stood an 
ebony stool, serving as a step. 

The light was arrested at the edge of the couch, and 
the shadow, like a thick curtain, concealed all objects, 
save a little bare foot peering from under a white robe, 
resting on the corner of a red mattress. Matho very 
softly drew down the lamp. She slept, her cheek rest- 
ing on one hand, the other arm thrown out and ex- 
posed. The curls of her wavy black hair tumbled about 
her in such abundance that she appeared actually to lie 
on a mass of black plumes; her white, wide tunic was 
crushed in soft draperies to her feet, indistinctly de- 
fining the outlines of her form; and her eyes were par- 
tially revealed between the half-closed lids. The per- 
pendicular couch-hangings enshrouded her in a bluish 
atmosphere, and the swaying movement, imparted to 
the cords by her breathing, rocked her suspended couch 
in mid-air. An enormous mosquito buzzed. 

Matho stood motionless, holding the silver lamp at 
arm’s-length. Suddenly the airy mosquito nettings 


SALAMMBO 


93 


took fire and disappeared. Salammbo awoke. The fire 
had extinguished itself. She did not speak. The 
lamp flickered over the wainscoting in wave-like 
splashes of light. 

“ What is it? ” she exclaimed. 

He responded : “ It is the veil of Tanit.” 

“ The veil of Tanit? ” cried Salammbo, as, support- 
ing herself on her hands, she leaned tremblingly over 
the side of the couch. 

He continued : “ I have sought it for you in the 
depths of the sanctuary ! Behold ! ” The Zaimph glit- 
tered, covered with rays. 

“ You remember, then ? ” queried Matho. “ In the 
night you came in my dreams ; but I could not divine 
the mute command in your eyes.” 

She placed one foot on the ebony stool. 

“ Had I understood, I should have hastened, I should 
have abandoned the army, I should not have left Car- 
thage. To obey you I would descend by the cavern of 
Hadrumetum into the realms of the Shades! Forgive 
me ! Mountains have seemed to weigh upon my days, 
and yet something drew me on. I yearned to reach 
you ; but without the aid of the gods I should never 
have dared ! Let us depart ; you must follow me, or if 
you do not desire to go I will remain. It makes no 
difference ! Drown my soul in the sweetness of your 
breath ! let my lips be crushed in kissing your hands ! ” 

“ Let me see it ! ” she exclaimed. “ Nearer ! nearer ! ” 

As the dawn broke, a wine-coloured hue spread over 
the talc-sheets in the walls. Salammbo leaned back 
fainting on the pillows. 

“ I love you ! ” cried Matho. 

“ Give it to me ! ” and they drew nearer together. 

She moved forward, robed in her white trailing 
simarre, her large eyes riveted on the veil. Matho con- 


94 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


templated her, dazzled by the splendour of her head. 
Holding toward her the Zaimph, he endeavoured to en- 
velope her in an embrace. She extended her arms. 
Suddenly she paused ; and they stood, silently regard- 
ing each other with open mouths. 

Without knowing what he solicited, a horror seized 
her. She raised her delicate eyebrows, her lips parted, 
and she trembled ; at length recovering, she struck one 
of the brass pateras hanging at the corner of the red 
mattress, screaming: 

“ Help ! Help ! Back ! Sacrilegious ! Infamous ! Ac- 
cursed ! Come to me, Taanach, Kroum, Ewa, Micipsa, 
Schaoul ! ” 

Spendius’ scared face appeared in the wall between 
the flagons, as he cried with alarm, “ Fly ! they are 
coming ! ” 

A great uproar broke out, shaking the stairway, and 
a host of women, valets, and slaves burst into the apart- 
ment, carrying spears, maces, cutlasses, and poniards. 
They were paralysed with indignation at finding a man 
in Salammbo’s room. The female servants uttered fu- 
nereal wails, and the eunuchs fairly paled under their 
black skins. 

Matho stood behind the balustrade, the Zaimph en- 
veloping him; he resembled a sidereal god, environed 
by the firmament. The slaves were about to throw 
themselves upon him, but Salammbo stopped them. 

“ Do not touch him ! It is the mantle of the god- 
dess ! ” 

She had retreated into a corner, but now she stepped 
toward Matho, and extending her bare arm cursed 
him : 

“ Malediction on you, who have plundered Tanit ! 
Hate, vengeance, massacre, and sorrow ! May Gurzil, 
god of battles, rend you! May Mastiman, god of 


SALAMMBO 


95 


death, strangle you ! and may the Other — whom I dare 
not name — burn you ! ” 

Matho uttered a cry, like one wounded by a spear. 

Frequently she repeated, “Go! Go!” 

The throng of servants parted as Matho with down- 
cast eyes slowly passed out through the group. At 
the door he was stopped by the fringe of the Zaimph 
becoming entangled on one of the golden stars adorn- 
ing the pavement, but by an abrupt movement of his 
shoulders he detached it and descended the stairs. 

Spendius, bounding from terrace to terrace, leaping 
over the hedges and ditches, escaped from the gardens 
and reached the foot of the lighthouse; here the wall 
was abandoned, as the cliff was inaccessible. He ad- 
vanced to the edge, then lying down on his back, slid 
to the bottom; then swimming, he reached the Cape of 
the Tombs, whence he made a wide circuit of the 
lagoon, reentering the Barbarians’ camp at evening. 

The sun had risen as Matho descended the roads, 
glaring about him with terrible eyes, like an escaping 
lion. An indistinct murmur, emanating from the pal- 
ace, and reechoed in the distance from the direction 
of the Acropolis, struck his ears. It was rumoured 
that some one had taken from the temple of Moloch 
the treasure of Carthage ; others spoke of the assassina- 
tion of a priest; elsewhere it was imagined that the 
Barbarians had entered the city. 

Matho, not knowing how to get out of the enclos- 
ures, followed a straight path ; as soon as he was seen 
a clamour was raised. The people . understood ; con- 
sternation ensued ; then an immense rage possessed 
them. From the back part of the Mappalian quarter, 
from the heights of the Acropolis, from the catacombs, 
from the lake shore, multitudes ran. The patricians 
left their palaces, tradesmen their shops, women aban- 


96 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


doned their children ; some seized swords, axes, and 
clubs ; but the same superstitious obstacle that had 
hindered Salammbo likewise checked the mob. 

How could they retake the veil ? Only to look upon 
it was a crime; it was of the nature of the gods, and 
mere contact was death. 

On the peristyles of the temples the priests wrung 
their hands in sheer desperation. The guards of the 
Legion galloped at random; people went up on the 
house-tops, thronged the terraces, and climbed upon 
the shoulders of the colossi and into the ships’ riggings. 
Still Matho proceeded, and at every step the rage and 
terror of the people increased. The streets cleared at 
his approach, and the human torrent receded on both 
sides to the top of the walls. Matho saw everywhere 
only glaring eyes, wide-open as if to devour him, and 
defiant, clenched fists, and he heard gnashing teeth 
between threatening lips ; but above all Salammbd’s 
maledictions resounded in his ears, in multplied echoes. 

Suddenly a long arrow whirred past, then another, 
and still another ; stones also flew by, only to rebound 
about him on the ground ; the missiles, all indifferently 
directed, for the throwers feared to strike the Zaimph, 
passed over his head. Recognising this fact, Matho 
made the veil serve as a shield, holding it first to the 
right, then to the left ; then before, then behind him : 
thus thwarted, they could invent no expedient. He 
walked faster and faster ; finding the street openings all 
impassable, barred by ropes, chariots, and snares, his 
attempts to effect egress were balked, and he had again 
and again to retrace his steps ; at length he entered the 
Square of Khamoun, where the Balearic slingers had 
perished. Matho stopped, and grew as pale as death. 
This time he surely was lost. The multitude, witness- 
ing his dilemma, clapped their hands with joy. 


SALAMMBO 


97 


He ran up to the huge, closed gate. It was very 
high and most formidably constructed of heart of oak 
sheathed with brass, and studded with iron nails. 
Matho flung himself with all his might against it ; the 
people stamped their feet, wild with delight at witness- 
ing the impotence of his fury. Then he removed his 
sandal, spat upon it, and struck the immovable panels 
with it; again the entire concourse of people yelled, 
forgetting the veil in their transport. 

They were about to rush forward to crush him. 
Matho gazed with large vague eyes at the crowd. His 
temples throbbed giddily; he felt invaded by such en- 
ervation as besets a drunken man. All at once he saw 
dangling the long chain that served to work the lever 
of the gate. With a fierce bound he grasped, and forci- 
bly pulled the chain, at the same time using his feet as 
a buttress ; the enormous valves, yielding to his mad 
strength, half-opened. 

Once outside, he took the sublime Zaimph from his 
neck, and lifted it over his head as high as possible. 
Distended and borne up by the sea breeze, the glitter- 
ing material became resplendent in the sunshine, dis- 
playing its wondrous medley of inshot colours and 
precious stones ; and over all its sheen could be descried 
the faint images of its gods. 

Thus Matho bore his trophy across the entire plain 
until he reached the camp of the Barbarians, and from 
the walls the irate people watched the fortune of Car- 
thage pass into the hands of the enemy. 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


CHAPTER VI 

HANNO 

I SHOULD have brought her with me ! ” Matho 
kept muttering to Spendius that evening. “ I 
should have seized and carried her from her 
palace ! No one would have dared stop me ! ” 

Spendius paid no attention as he lay on his back 
enjoying himself beside a large jar of honey- water, 
wherein he would from time to time dip his head, in 
order to drink more copiously. 

Matho resumed : “ What is to be done ? . . . How 
can we gain entrance again into Carthage ? ” 

“ I do not know/’ answered Spendius. 

This impassibility exasperated Matho, who ex- 
claimed : 

“What! The fault is yours! You led me; then 
you desert me, coward that you are ! Why then should 
I obey you ? Do you believe yourself my master ? Oh ! 
panderer, slave, son of slaves ! ” He ground his teeth 
in wrath, and lifted his large hand over Spendius. 

The Greek did not reply. A clay lamp burned low 
against the tent-pole, where the Za'imph glittered in 
the suspended panoply. 

All at once Matho drew on his cothurnes, buckled 
on his jacket of plates of brass, and put on his helmet. 
“ Where are you going ? ” asked Spendius. 

“ I shall return to the palace ! Let me alone ! I 
shall carry her off! And if they oppose me I shall 
crush them like vipers! I shall put her to death, 
Spendius ! Yes,” he repeated, “ I shall kill her ! You 
will see, I shall kill her ! ” 


SALAMMBO 


But Spendius, who was listening attentively, hur- 
riedly pulled down the Zaimph, threw it into a corner, 
and covered it with fleeces. 

A murmur of voices was heard ; torches blazed ; and 
Narr’ Havas entered, followed by about twenty men. 
They wore white woolen mantles, leather collars, 
wooden earrings, and hyena-skin shoes, and were 
armed with daggers. Pausing at the threshold, they 
leaned upon their lances, like shepherds resting. 

Narr’ Havas was the handsomest of the group. The 
leather straps encircling his slender arms were orna- 
mented with pearls. His wide mantle was fastened 
round his head by a gold band, from which an ostrich 
plume fell drooping on his shoulders. A continual 
smile revealed his teeth ; his eyes were sharp as arrows ; 
his entire bearing was observant, and yet cool and 
indifferent. 

He declared that he had come to join the Merce- 
naries, as the Republic had for a long time menaced his 
kingdom ; consequently, he was interested in aiding the 
Barbarians, and he oossessed the power to be of service 
to them. 

“ I will give you elephants, for my forests are full 
of them; with wine, oil, barley, dates, pitch, and sul- 
phur for sieges ; with twenty thousand foot soldiers, 
and ten thousand horses. If I now address you, 
Matho, it is because the possession of the Zaimph has 
rendered you of the first importance in the army; we 
were also friends at one time,” he added. 

Meanwhile Matho looked at Spendius, who listened 
intently, sitting on a heap of sheep-skins, all the time 
making little signs of assent with his head. 

Narr’ Havas talked on, calling upon the gods to 
witness his sincerity. Then he cursed Carthage. To 
attest the violence of his imprecations, he broke a jave- 


100 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


lin, and all his men uttered in unison a deafening howl. 

Matho, carried away by so much rage, cried out 
that he accepted the proffered alliance. 

Then they brought a white bull and a black sheep 
— symbolical of day and night — which they slaughtered 
on the edge of a pit, and, when it became full of blood, 
they plunged their arms into it. Afterward Narr’ 
Havas placed his outspread hand on Matho’s breast, 
and Matho placed his hand on Narr’ Havas’ breast; 
then they repeated the stigmata on their tent-cloths. 
Subsequently the night was passed in eating. The 
remnants of meat, with all the skins bones horm and 
hoofs, were burned. 

Matho, at the time he returned to the camp wearing 
the veil of the goddess, had been greeted with tre- 
mendous acclamation. Even those who were not of 
the Canaanite religion felt in their vague enthusiasm 
the advent of a genius. As for seeking to capture the 
Zaimph, no one thought of such a thing ; the mysteri- 
ous manner whereby he had acquired it sufficed in 
the minds of the Barbarians to make his possession 
of it legitimate. Thus thought the soldiers of African 
race; but others, whose hatred against the Republic 
was of more recent origin, knew not what to think. If 
they had only possessed vessels, they would have im- 
mediately set sail for their own countries. 

Spendius, Narr’ Havas, and Matho sent envoys to 
all the tribes of the Punic territory. Carthage had 
exhausted the strength of these people by exorbitant 
taxes ; punishing delinquents, and even those who mur- 
mured, by chains, the executioner’s axe, or the cross. 
It was compulsory to cultivate that which pleased the 
Republic, and furnish what she demanded. No one 
had the right to own a weapon. Whenever villages 
rebelled, the inhabitants were sold as slaves; the.gov- 


SALAMMBO 


101 


ernors were estimated like wine-presses, according to 
the quantity of taxes they were able to extort. 

Beyond the region immediately subject to Carthage 
were their allies, who were burdened with only a mode- 
rate tribute ; beyond these allies wandered the Nomads, 
who could be let loose upon them. By this system the 
harvests were always abundant, the breeding studs 
skilfully conducted, the plantations superb. Old Cato, 
a master in agriculture and slave-raising, ninety-two 
years later was amazed at it, and the death cry, “ De- 
lenda est Carthago” repeated by him in Rome, was 
but an exclamation of jealous cupidity. 

During the last war the exactions had been doubled, 
so that nearly all the towns of Libya had surrendered 
to Regulus. As punishment, the Republic exacted 
from them one thousand talents, twenty thousand head 
of cattle, three hundred sacks of gold-dust, and con- 
siderable advances of grain; and the chiefs of tribes 
had been crucified or thrown to the lions. 

Carthage was especially execrated by Tunis, which 
was an older city than the metropolis. Tunis could 
not forgive the grandeur of. the Republic, as she lay 
fronting its walls, crouching in the mud on the water’s 
edge, like a malignant beast watching its prey. Trans- 
portations, massacres, epidemics, had not enfeebled 
her ; moreover, she had supported Archagathus, son 
of Agathocles. The Eaters-of-Undean-Things soon 
found arms there. 

The couriers had not as yet set out on their mission 
when a universal joy spread abroad throughout the 
provinces. Without waiting for provocation they 
strangled the stewards of the houses and the function- 
aries of the Republic in the baths; old weapons were 
brought forth from caverns, where they had formerly 
been hidden, and the iron of ploughs was forged into 


102 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


swords; children deftly whetted javelins on the door- 
steps ; and the women contributed their necklaces, 
rings, earrings, and, in fact, everything that could be 
transposed or employed in any manner for the desired 
destruction of Carthage. Each one wished to give 
something. Stacks of lances accumulated in the coun- 
try towns like sheaves of maize. Cattle and money 
were sent to Matho, who at once paid all arrears to 
the Mercenaries, and this, which had been suggested 
by Spendius, resulted in Matho being named Schali- 
schim of the Barbarians. 

Meanwhile men trooped in from all quarters. First 
came the aborigines, who were followed by the slaves 
from the fields. Caravans of negroes were seized and 
armed, and the merchants who were going to Carthage, 
calculating on a more certain and speedy profit, joined 
in with the Barbarians. Unceasingly numerous bands 
arrived, and from the heights of the Acropolis the 
Carthaginians could see the army rapidly growing. 

On the platform of the aqueduct the Guards of the 
Legion were posted as sentinels, and near them, at 
certain distances, were erected huge brazen vats, in 
which boiled quantities of asphalt. Below, on the plain, 
the vast concourse stirred about tumultuously. They 
were uncertain, experiencing that embarrassment with 
which Barbarians are always filled whenever they en- 
counter walls. 

Utica and Hippo-Zarytus withheld their alliance. 
Phoenician colonies, like Carthage, they' were self- 
governed, and in the treaties which the Republic con- 
cluded had always caused to be subjoined clauses to 
distinguish them from it. Yet they respected this 
strongest sister, who protected them, and they did not 
believe that a mass of Barbarians was able to vanquish 
her, but on the contrary, that Carthage could annihi- 


SALAMMBO 103 

late the enemy. They desired to remain neutral and 
live peacefully. 

But the position of these two colonies rendered them 
indispensable. Utica, at the end of a gulf, was con- 
venient to bring assistance from without into Carthage. 
If Utica alone should be captured, then Hippo-Zarytus, 
six hours further along on the coast, could replace the 
loss, and the metropolis, being thus revictualled, would 
be found impregnable. 

Spendius wanted the siege to be begun imme- 
diately. Narr’ Havas strongly opposed such hasty 
action, as it was necessary an attack should first be 
made on the frontier. This was the opinion of the 
veterans called in council, and approved by Matho. 
It was decided that Spendius should attack Utica ; 
Matho, Hippi-Zarytus ; that the third army corps, com- 
manded by Autharitus, resting upon Tunis, should 
occupy the plain of Carthage, and that Narr’ Havas 
should return to his own kingdom to procure elephants, 
and with his cavalry hold the roads. 

The women clamoured violently against this deci- 
sion ; they coveted the jewels of the Punic dames. The 
Libyans also protested, declaring that they had been 
summoned to engage in a siege against Carthage, and 
now they were ordered away from it. The soldiers 
departed almost alone. 

Matho commanded his own companions, also the 
Iberians and Lusitanians, the men from the West and 
from the islands; while those who spoke Greek re- 
quested that they might be placed under Spendius’s 
command, because of his astuteness. 

The Carthaginians were stupefied when they saw this 
army all at once in motion, stretching away under the 
mountain of Ariana, by the road to Utica on the sea- 
coast. A detachment remained before Tunis; the rest 


104 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


disappeared, to reappear on the other shore of the gulf, 
on the outskirts of the woods, in which it was again 
lost to view. 

Possibly this army numbered eighty thousand men. 
The two Tyrian cities would offer no resistance, and 
they would return against Carthage. Already a con- 
siderable army cut her off, occupying the base of the 
isthmus, and soon Carthage would be in a state of 
famine, as the people were dependent on the aid of 
the provinces, the citizens paying no contributions, as 
at Rome. 

Carthage was weak in political genius. Her eternal 
strife for gain had prevented her from exercising that 
prudence which encourages the highest ambition. She 
was like a galley anchored on the Libyan sands, main- 
tained there by force of labor. The nations, like bil- 
lows, roared about her, and the least storm shook this 
formidable machine to the foundation. 

Her treasury had been depleted by the Roman war 
and all that had been squandered and lost during the 
bargaining with the Barbarians. However, she must 
have soldiers, and not a government now reposed trust 
in the Republic ! Ptolemy, a short time before, had 
refused to loan Carthage two thousand talents. And 
yet another significant cause of discouragement was 
the rape of the Veil. Spendius had wisely foreseen 
this. 

But the nation, which felt itself detested, clasped to 
its heart its money and its gods, and its patriotism 
was maintained by the constitution of its government. 

In the first place, the power belonged to all, with- 
out anyone being able to monopolize it. Personal debts 
were considered as public debts. The men of Canaan- 
ite race had the monopoly of commerce. In multiply- 
ing the profits of piracy by the practice of usury, and 


SALAMMBO 


105 


by rigorously exacting to the extreme limit from the 
slaves, the lands and the poor, men sometimes became 
wealthy. Wealth alone opened all the magistracies, 
and even though the power and money were perpetu- 
ated in the same families, the oligarchy was tolerated 
because each had the hope of some day sharing in it. 

The societies of commerce, wherein the laws were 
elaborated, elected the inspectors of finance, to whose 
discretion it was left, on quitting office, to nominate the 
hundred members of the Council of Elders who be- 
longed to the Grand Assembly, a general convention 
of all the Rich. 

As for the two Suffets, the rencs of monarchy and 
inferior to consuls, they were elected on the same day, 
from two distinct families. It was desirable that they 
should be divided by various animosities, and thus 
mutually enfeebled. They were not empowered to 
deliberate on the war, and when they were conquered 
the Grand Council crucified them. 

Hence the strength of Carthage emanated from the 
Syssites, who were established in a grand court in the 
centre of Malqua, the spot where it was supposed the 
first bark manned by Phoenician sailors had landed. 
Since that period the sea had retreated greatly. It was 
a group of small chambers of an archaic architecture, 
built from the trunks of palm-trees, with stone corner- 
pieces, separated one from another, affording to each 
chamber complete isolation for the various companies- 
in their conferences. The Rich gathered therein daily 
to discuss their own affairs, as well as those of the 
Government, from the procuring of pepper to the con- 
quest of Rome. 

Three times every moon they had their couches car- 
ried up on the high terrace, bordering the wall of the 
court; and from below they could be seen sitting at 


106 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


table in the open air, without cothurnes or mantles ; 
their diamonds flashing on their fingers as they han- 
dled their food, and their large earrings glittering as 
they dangled between the flagons. They were all 
strong and fat, half-naked, happy, and laughing, eat- 
ing in the open under the blue sky, like huge sharks 
disporting in the sea. 

This time, however, they could not dissemble their 
anxiety ; they were too pale. The crowd below waited 
to escort them to their palaces, in the hope of ascertain- 
ing some news. As during times of the plague, all 
the houses were closed ; occasionally the streets would 
suddenly swarm with people, and just as suddenly 
empty and become deserted. Some ascended the 
Acropolis, others ran toward the harbour. Every 
night the Grand Council deliberated. At last the peo- 
ple were convened in the square of Khamoun, and it 
was officially announced that they had decided to place 
in command Hanno, the great conqueror of Heca- 
tompylus. 

He was a pious crafty man, merciless to the Afri- 
cans — a true Carthaginian. His revenues equalled 
those of the Barcas, and no other man had such ex- 
perience in administrative afifairs. 

Hanno decreed the enrolment of all able-bodied citi- 
zens, placed catapults upon the towers, demanded ex- 
orbitant supplies of weapons, ordered the construction 
of fourteen galleys, which were not required; and 
commanded that everything be registered and accu-' 
rately set down in writing. He was carried by his 
slaves to the lighthouse, the arsenal, and into the treas- 
ury of the temples ; and was continually to be seen in 
his large litter, as it rocked from step to step, ascend- 
ing or descending the stairways of the Acropolis. At 
night, in his palace, being unable to sleep, he prepared 


SALAMMBO 


107 


himself for the coming battle by shouting in a terrible 
voice orders for military manoeuvres. 

Everyone, by reason of extreme terror, became 
brave. The Rich at cock-crow would assemble along 
the length of Mappals, turning up their robes as they 
practised the use of the pike. But having no instruc- 
tor, they disputed among themselves as to methods. 
They would sit panting on the tombs, then begin 
again their exercises after resting. Many even dieted 
themselves. Some imagined that to acquire strength 
it was necessary to eat large quantities, and gorged 
themselves ; others, incommoded by corpulence, en- 
deavoured to reduce themselves by fastings. 

Utica had already frequently asked the assistance 
of Carthage ; but Hanno would not move until the 
last screw was set in every war machine. He lost 
three more moons of time in the equipment of the 
hundred and twelve elephants, stabled in the ramparts. 
These vanquishers of Regulus, so loved by the people, 
certainly could not be treated too well. Hanno or- 
dered their brazen breastplates to be recast, their 
tusks gilded, their towers enlarged, and had made for 
them most beautiful purple caparisons, bordered with 
very heavy fringes. Inasmuch as their leaders were 
called Indians (the first doubtless having come from 
the Indies), he ordered that they should wear Indian 
costumes, consisting of a white turban, and little 
breeches of byssus, which, with their transverse pleats, 
looked like two valves of a shell, fastened on their 
hips. 

During all these preparations, the army commanded 
by Autharitus remained stationed before Tunis, con- 
cealed behind a mud wall, and protected on the top 
by thorn-bushes. The Negroes erected, in various 
places, on large stakes, frightful images, human masks 


108 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


composed of birds’ feathers, heads of jackals and ser- 
pents, which gaped toward the enemy to frighten 
them , by such measures the Barbarians considered 
themselves to be utterly invincible, and danced, 
wrestled, and juggled, convinced that Carthage be- 
fore long would be destroyed. 

Any other general than Hanno could have crushed 
with facility this multitude, embarrassed by herds 
and women, and who, furthermore, were not versed 
in any military tactics ; and Autharitus had grown dis- 
couraged and no longer required his men to drill. 

They scattered before him, as he passed by, rolling 
his large blue eyes. Then when he arrived at the 
lake shore, he would remove his seal-skin tunic, untie 
the cord holding back his long red locks, and soak 
them in the water. He regretted that he had not de- 
serted to the Romans with the two thousand Gauls of 
the temple of Eryx. 

Frequently during the middle of the day the sun’s 
rays suddenly vanished, then the gulf and open sea 
seemed as motionless as molten lead. A cloud of 
brown dust rising perpendicularly, would course along 
in whirling eddies, under the force of which the palm 
trees bowed, the sky became obscured, stones could 
be heard rebounding on the backs of the animals, and 
the Gaul would glue his lips against the holes in his 
tent, gasping from exhaustion and melancholy. In 
fancy he inhaled the perfumes of his native pastures 
on autumn mornings, he saw the snowflakes, and 
again heard the lowing of the aurochs lost in the fog ; 
then closing his eyes, he seemed to see the fires in 
the long cabins thatched with straw, as they quivered 
on the marshes at the edge of the woods. 

There were others who regretted their native coun- 
try as much as he, though it might not be so far away. 


SALAMMBO 


109 


The Carthaginian captives could indeed distinguish, 
at the other side of the gulf, on the declivities of 
Byrsa, the canopies spread over the courts of their 
dwellings. Sentinels patrolled around these prisoners 
perpetually. Each man wore an iron yoke, by which 
all were attached to one chain. The crowd never 
tired of coming to look at these patrician captives. 
The women showed their little children the beautiful 
Punic robes hanging in tatters upon their shrunken 
limbs. 

Every time that Autharitus saw Gisco, a fury pos- 
sessed him at the thought of the old general’s insult 
to him, and he would certainly have killed him but 
for the oath he had made to Narr’ Havas. He would 
then return to his tent and drink a mixture of barley 
and cumin, till he became drunk to unconsciousness : 
at noontime the following day he would awake, con- 
sumed by a horrible thirst. 

Matho, in the meantime, besieged Hippo-Zarytus. 
This town was protected by a lake communicating 
with the sea. It had three lines of fortifications, and 
on the heights which overlooked it, a wall extended, 
fortified by towers. 

Matho had never before commanded in such an 
undertaking. Moreover, the thought of Salammbo be- 
set him, and he dreamed of the pleasures of her beauty, 
as in the sweetness of a revenge that transported him 
with pride. His desire to see her again was bitter, 
furious, unceasing. He even thought of ofifering him- 
self as a bearer of a flag of truce, in the hope that once 
in Carthage he might make his way to her. Often he 
would sound the signal for assault, and without wait- 
ing for aught, would dart on to the pier that they were 
endeavouring to construct in the sea. Here he tore 
up the stones with his hands, turned everything upside 


110 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


down, plunging and striking about in every direction 
with his broad sword. The Barbarians followed his 
leadership, and dashed pellmell upon the works; the 
overcrowded ladders would break with a loud crash, 
and masses of men tumble into the water, which leaped 
in reddened waves against the walls. At last the tu- 
mult would lessen and the soldiers withdraw to re- 
new the assault. Matho would seat himself outside 
his tent, wipe his blood-bespattered face, and, looking 
towards Carthage, wistfully gaze at the horizon. 

Facing him, among the olive, palm, myrtle, and 
plane trees, were two wide pools, which joined an- 
other lake, the outline of which was not perceptible 
from this point of view. Behind a mountain rose other 
mountains, and in the middle of the immense lake stood 
an island, perfectly black, of a pyramidal shape. On 
the left, at the extremity of the gulf, the sand heaps 
resembled great golden billows arrested in their course, 
and the sea, flat as a pavement of lapis-lazuli, ascended 
imperceptibly to the. sky. The verdure of the country 
in places disappeared under long yellow patches, the 
carobs shone bright as coral buttons, the vines hung 
in festoons from the top of sycamores. The faint mur- 
muring of the water was audible, the tufted skylarks 
hopped about, and the last flashes of the sun gilded 
the carapaces of the tortoises as they came out of the 
rushes to inhale the sea breezes. 

Matho, sighing deeply, lay flat on the ground, dig- 
ging his nails into the sand, and wept, feeling 
wretched, mean, and forsaken. He could never pos- 
sess Salammbo ; and he could not even succeed in 
capturing a town. At night, alone in his tent, he con- 
templated the Zaimph, querying of what use was this 
thing of the gods to him? And doubts sprang up in 
the Barbarian’s mind. Then it seemed to him, on the 


SALAMMBO 


111 


contrary, that the vestment of the goddess belonged to 
Salammbo, and that part of her soul floated in it, 
more subtle than a breath ; and he caressingly patted 
it, breathed with his face buried in its folds, kissed it 
with sobs. He drew it over his shoulders to intensify 
the illusion that he was embracing her. 

Sometimes, by the light of the stars, he would sud- 
denly leave his tent, stepping over the sleeping soldiers 
wrapped in their mantles ; then at the gates of the camp 
he would leap upon a horse, gallop away, and two 
hours afterwards be at Utica in the tent of Spendius. 
At first he would talk of the siege, but his real motive 
was to ease his sadness by talking about Salammbo. 

Spendius exhorted him to wisdom. 

“ Expel from your soul these miseries that but de- 
grade it! Formerly you obeyed, but now you com- 
mand an army ; and if Carthage is not conquered, at 
least we shall have provinces granted to us, and we 
shall become as kings ! ” 

But why was it that the possession of the Zaimph 
had failed to give them victory ? 

According to Spendius it was necessary to wait. 
Matho imagined that perhaps the veil concerned ex- 
clusively those of the Canaanite race, and with bar- 
barian subtilty said to himself : 

“ The Zaimph will avail me nothing ; but, because 
they have lost it, it avails them nothing.” 

Then came a scruple that dsturbed him; he feared 
in adoring the Libyan god Aptouknos to offend Mo- 
loch, and timidly asked Spendius to which of these 
gods it would be well to sacrifice a man. 

“ Always sacrifice ! ” said Spendius, laughing. 

Matho did not understand such indifference, and 
suspected that the Greek had a genius of whom he did 
not wish to speak. 


112 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


All religions, as all races, met together in these Bar- 
barian armies, and they were ever considerate of the 
gods of others, for they also inspired terrors. Many 
mingled in their native religion foreign practices. It 
was not fitting to adore the stars, but this or that con- 
stellation being fatal or helpful, they made sacrifices 
to it. An unknown amulet, found by chance in a mo- 
ment of peril, became a divinity. Or perhaps it was 
a name — nothing but a name — which they repeated 
without ever attempting to understand its meaning. 

But the result of having pillaged numerous temples, 
and seen many nations and massacres, was that many 
ended by believing only in destiny and death, and 
every night they slept with the perfect placidity of 
wild beasts. 

Spendius would have spat upon the images of Ju- 
piter Olympus ; notwithstanding, he dreaded to speak 
aloud in the dark, and never failed to put on his right 
sandal first. 

He raised a long quadrangular terrace fronting 
Utica, but in proportion as it was built up the ram- 
parts were also heightened. That which was beaten 
down by one army, was almost immediately re- 
erected by the other. 

Spendius looked carefully to his troops ; he con- 
stantly devised plans, and endeavoured to recall the 
stratagems he had heard recounted in his travels. 

Why did not Narr’ Havas return? The delay filled 
them with anxiety. 

Hanno had at last completed his preparations. 

During one moonless night- he moved his elephants 
and soldiers on rafts across the Gulf of Carthage. 
They then turned around the Hot-Springs Mountain, 
to avoid Autharitus, and proceeded so slowly that, in- 


SALAMMBO 


113 


stead of surprising the Barbarians the next morning, 
as the Suffet had planned, they only arrived at noon 
on the third day. 

On the eastern side of Utica a plain reached as far 
as the great lagoon of Carthage ; behind it extended 
at a right angle a valley, cutting between two low 
mountains, which suddenly closed in. Further off, to 
the left, the Barbarians were encamped in such a man- 
ner as to blockade the harbour. They were sleeping in 
their tents — as on this day besieged and besiegers were 
too weary to enter into combat, and had sought repose 
— when at the curve of the hills the Carthaginian army 
appeared. 

The camp followers, armed with slings, were sta- 
tioned on the wings. The Guards of the Legion, wear- 
ing armour of golden scales, formed the first line : their 
large horses, which had neither manes, hair, nor ears, 
wore a silver horn in the centre of their foreheads, to 
make them resemble rhinoceroses. Between their 
squadrons, young men, wearing on their heads small 
helmets, balanced in both hands ash-wood javelins; 
the heavy infantry, armed with long pikes, marched in 
the rear. All the traders were laden with as many 
weapons as they could possibly carry: some bore a 
lance, an axe, a mace, and two swords : others, like 
porcupines, bristled with darts, and their arms stood 
out from their cuirasses of sheets of horn, or plaques 
of metal. Finally the scaffoldings of the lofty war 
engines appeared : carrobalistas, onagers, catapults 
and scorpions, rocking on cars, drawn by mules and 
quadrigas of oxen. 

As the army unfolded itself, the captains ran breath- 
lessly from right and left, giving orders, closing up 
the lines, and maintaining proper spaces. 

The Elders who were in command had come decked 


114 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


in purple casques, the magnificent fringes of which 
became entangled in the straps of their cothurnes. 
Their faces, greased over with vermilion, glistened 
under enormous helmets, surmounted by images of the 
gods. They carried shields bordered with ivory, and 
studded with jewels ; as they passed in glittering array, 
they appeared like suns traversing brass walls. 

The Carthaginians manoeuvred so awkwardly, that 
the Barbarians, in derision, invited them to be seated : 
and shouted that they would soon empty their huge 
bellies, dust the gilding from their skins, and make 
them drink iron. 

At the top of a pole planted before the tent of Spen- 
dius, a strip of green cloth fluttered as a signal. The 
Carthaginians responded to it by a great bluster of 
trumpets, cymbals, drums, and flutes made of asses’ 
bones. 

Already the Barbarians had leaped beyond the pali- 
sades, and now were face to face with their enemies, 
within a javelin’s length of them. 

A Balearic slinger advanced a step, placed in his 
sling one of his clay balls, and waved his arm ; an ivory 
shield was shattered, and the two armies mingled to- 
gether. 

The Greeks with their long lances pricked the horses’ 
nostrils, making them fall back on their riders; the 
slaves whose duty it was to sling stones had chosen 
those which were too large, and they fell close to them. 
The Punic foot soldiers, in striking out with their long 
swords to cut down the enemy, exposed their right 
sides; the Barbarians broke into their lines, thrusting 
at them with their broad swords : they madly stumbled 
over the dying and dead, blinded by the blood that 
spurted into their faces. The confused mass of pikes, 
helmets, cuirasses, swords, and human limbs quivered 


SALAMMBO 


115 


and writhed, widening and narrowing in elastic con- 
tractions. 

The Carthaginian cohorts showed wider and wider 
gaps ; their heavy war engines could not be extricated 
from the sands: and finally the Sufifet Hanno’s litter 
— his grand litter, with the crystal pendulums, that 
had been seen since the very beginning of the attack 
swaying among the soldiers like a barque on the ocean 
— suddenly foundered. He doubtless was killed ! The 
Barbarians found themselves alone. They burst forth 
into song. 

The dust was beginning to settle, when Hanno re- 
appeared on the back of an elephant. He sat bare- 
headed while a negro carried over him an umbrella 
of byssus. His collar of blue plaques struck on the 
painted flowers of his black tunic, circles of diamonds 
surrounded his enormous arms ; he advanced, mouth 
wide open, brandishing an enormous spear which ex- 
panded at the end like a lotus, and was more brilliant 
than a mirror. 

The earth trembled, and suddenly the Barbarians 
saw, bearing down upon them in one straight line, all 
the Carthaginian elephants, with their tusks gilded, 
ears painted blue, sheathed in bronze, shaking above 
their purple caparisons the leather towers, in each of 
which were three archers holding large, drawn bows. 

The soldiers scarcely had time to seize their arms, 
they were ranged at random, frozen with terror, and 
helpless from indecision. 

Already from the towers volleys of arrows and jave- 
lins, fire-lances and masses of lead were being hurled 
down on them. Some clung on to the fringes of the 
caparisons, in an effort to climb up, but their hands 
were hewn off with cutlasses, and they fell backward 
on the drawn swords of their own comrades. 


116 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Their pikes were too frail and broke. The ele- 
phants plunged into the phalanxes like wild boars 
through clumps of grasses. They uprooted the pali- 
sades with their trunks, and traversed the camp from 
end to end overturning the tents with their breasts. 

Panic-stricken, the Barbarians took to flight hiding 
themselves in the hills that bordered the valley whence 
the Carthaginians had issued. 

Hanno, presented himself before the gates of Utica 
as conqueror, and sounded his trumpet. The three 
judges of the city appeared in the opening of the bat- 
tlements, on the summit of a tower. The people of 
Utica did not care to receive as guests so many armed 
men. Hanno was furious. Finally they consented to 
admit him with a small escort. 

The streets were too narrow to admit the elephants, 
so they had to be left outside the city gates. 

As soon as the Suffet entered the town, the principal 
men came to welcome him. He demanded to be im- 
mediately conducted to the bath-house, and there sum- 
moned his cooks. 

Three hours later he was still immersed in the oil 
of cinnamon with which the bath-tub had been filled, 
and while bathing he ate from oflf an ox-hide stretched 
across the tub flamingoes’ tongues and poppy-seeds, 
seasoned with honey. His Greek doctor, in a long, 
yellow robe, stood beside him, immobile, from time to 
time directing the temperature of the bath; and two 
young boys leaned on the steps of the bath rubbing the 
leper’s legs. But the care of his body did not interfere 
with his love for public affairs, for he occupied him- 
self with the dictation of a letter to the Grand Council ; 
and, as some prisoners had been taken, he pondered 
as to what terrible new torture could be invented for 
them. 


SALAMMBO 


117 


Stop ! said he to the slave who stood near, writ- 
ing on the palm of his hand. “ Let them be brought to 
me ! I wish to see them.” 

And from the end of the hall, which was now filled 
with a whitish vapour, on which the torches cast red 
spots, some one pushed forward three Barbarians : a 
Samnite, a Spartan, and a Cappadocian. 

“Proceed!” said Hanno. “Rejoice, light of the 
Baals ! your Sufifet has exterminated the ravenous 
dogs ! Benedictions on the Republic ! • Order prayers 
to be said ! ” He perceived the captives, and then 
burst into laughter. “ Ha ! ha ! ha ! my braves of Sicca. 
You do not shout so loud to-day. It is I ! Do you 
recognise me? Where then are your swords? What 
terrible men are these ! ” — and he feigned to hide as 
if he experienced great fear. — “ You asked for horses, 
women, lands, magistracies, and doubtless also for 
priesthoods ! Why not ? Ah, well, I will give you the 
lands, and you shall never leave them. You shall be 
married to gallows that are new! For your pay, in- 
gots of lead shall be melted in your mouths, and I will 
put you in the very best places, far up and exalted, 
among the clouds, near the eagles ! ” 

The three Barbarians, long-haired and tattered, 
looked at him without understanding what he said. 
Wounded in the knees, they had been lassoed and 
captured, and the ends of the heavy chains on their 
hands dragged on the stones. Hanno was indignant 
at their impassibility. 

“ On your knees ! On your knees ! Jackals ! Dirt ! 
Vermin! Excrement! And they do not reply? 
Enough! Silence! Let them be flayed alive! No! 
not now, presently ! ” 

He snorted like a hippopotamus, and rolled his eyes 
about. The perfumed oil trickled down his gross body, 


118 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


sticking to the scales on his skin ; and the torchlights 
threw over him a pink hue. 

He resumed his official letter : “ During four days 
we suffered intensely from the sun. In the passage 
of the Macar we lost some mules. Despite the ene- 
mies’ position, the extraordinary courage. . . . Oh ! 
Demonades, how I suffer! Have the bricks reheated 
till they are red hot.” 

A raking noise was heard in the furnaces. The in- 
cense smoked in the large perfume-pans, and the sham- 
pooers, entirely naked, dripping like sponges, anointed 
his joints with a paste composed of wheat, sulphur, 
black-wine, bitches’-milk, myrrh, galban, and storax. 

An incessant thirst consumed him. The man dressed 
in the yellow robe, however, did not yield to his pa- 
tient’s desire; he held to him a golden cup in which 
steamed a broth of vipers. 

“ Drink ! ” urged he, “ that the strength of the ser- 
pents, born of the sun, may penetrate the marrow of 
your bones. And take courage ! O reflection of the 
gods ! You know, moreover, that a priest of Eschmoun 
watches the cruel stars around the Dog whence you de- 
rive your malady. They pale like the spots on your 
skin ; therefore you will not die.” 

“ Ah, yes ! That is true ! ” repeated the Suffet — I 
ought not to die of them ! ” And from his violet pur- 
ple lips escaped a breath more nauseous than the ex- 
halations of a corpse. 

His eyes, which were without lashes, resembled two 
burning coals; heavy folds of skin hung on his fore- 
head; his ears stood out from his head, and began to 
swell ; and the deep wrinkles that formed semicircles 
around his nostrils gave him a strange, frightful aspect, 
the air of a savage brute. 

His unnatural voice resembled a roar as he said: 


SALAMMBO 


119 


“ Perhaps you are right, Demonades. Look, even now 
some of the ulcers are closed; I feel stronger! See 
how I eat ! ’ 

And, less from gluttony than ostentation — and to 
convince himself that he was really improving — he 
first ate of the minced cheese and marjoram, then the 
boned-fish, pumpkin, oysters with eggs, horseradish, 
truffles and brochettes of little birds. 

As he looked at the prisoners while he ate, he de- 
lighted in the imagination of their tortures. Then he 
recalled Sicca; and his rage for all his sufferings was 
showered, in a volley of insults, on these three men. 

“ Ah, traitors ! Wretches ! Infamous ! Accursed ! 
And you outraged me ! Me ! — the Suffet Hanno ! 
Their services, the price of their blood, as they have 
said. Ah ! yes ! their blood ! their blood ! ” Then he 
talked to himself : “ All shall perish ! Not one shall 
be sold ! It would be best to bring them to Carthage. 
No, let me see . . . without doubt I have not brought 
enough chains. . . . Write: ‘ Send to me.’ . . . How 
many prisoners are there? Let some one go and ask 
Muthumbal. Go ! No pity ! And have all their hands 
cut off, and brought to me in baskets ! ” 

But strange cries, at once hoarse and shrill, pene- 
trated the hall, above Hanno’s voice and the clatter of 
the dishes which were being placed around him. The 
cries increased ; and in an instant a furious trumpeting 
of elephants burst forth, as if the battle had broken out 
anew. A tremendous tumult encompassed the town. 

The Carthaginians had not attempted to pursue the 
Barbarians. They had established themselves at the 
foot of the walls with their baggage, valets, and all 
their satraps’ train, to rejoice under their beautiful 
pearl-embroidered tents. The Mercenaries’ camp was 
nothing but a heap of ruins on the plain. 


120 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


In the meantime Spendius had regained his courage. 
He despatched Zaxas to Matho, and hastened through 
the woods to rally his men. Their losses were not 
great, and enraged at having been thus conquered with- 
out fighting, they were reforming their lines, when a 
vat of petroleum, doubtless left by the enemy, was dis- 
covered. Spendius had swine carried off from the 
neighbouring farmhouses, besmeared them with the bi- 
tumen, and setting fire to them, turned them loose to- 
ward Utica. 

The elephants, frenzied by these running flames, 
stampeded over the rising ground. The ground in- 
clined upwards; a volley of javelins was hurled upon 
the infuriated creatures ; they turned back upon the 
Carthaginians, ripped them up with strokes of their 
tusks, and trampling them beneath their massive feet, 
suffocated and crushed them. The Barbarians de- 
scended the hill behind them ; the Punic camp, being 
without entrenchments, was sacked at the first attack, 
and the Carthaginians found themselves crushed 
against the city gates, which were kept closed from 
fear of the Mercenaries. 

At daybreak Matho’s foot soldiers were seen ad- 
vancing from the west, and at the same time the Nu- 
midian cavalry of Narr’ Havas appeared, bounding 
over the ravines and underbrush, running down the 
fugitives like hounds chasing hares. 

This change of fortune interrupted the Suffet, and 
he screamed for some one to assist him to leave the 
vapour bath. 

Before him still stood the three captives. A negro, 
the same who had carried his umbrella during the bat- 
tle, leaned over and whispered something in his ear. 

“ What then ? ” slowly asked the Suffet. “ Ah, well, 
kill them ! ” he added, in a brusque tone. 


SALAMMBO 


121 


The Ethiopian drew from his belt a long dagger, 
and the three heads fell. One rebounded into the midst 
of the recent feast, then rolled into the tub of oil, and 
floated for some time with open mouth and fixed eyes. 

The morning light entered the slits in the walls ; the 
three bodies lay on their breasts. Great streams gur- 
gled from the headless trunks like fountains, and a 
sheet of blood flowed over the mosaics, which were 
sanded with blue powder. The Suffet dipped his hands 
in the warm pool, rubbing the blood over his knees, this 
being considered a remedy for his malady. 

Evening came. He escaped from Utica with his 
escort, making his way to the mountains to rejoin his 
army. He found only the remnants of it. Four days 
later he was at Gorza, on the top of a defile, when 
Spendius’ troops showed themselves below. Had 
twenty good lancers attacked the front of their ad- 
vancing column, they could easily have checked them ; 
but the paralysed Carthaginians watched them pass bv. 
Hanno recognised in the rear guard the Numidian 
king. Narr’ Havas bowed his head in salutation, mak- 
ing a sign that he could not interpret. 

Hanno’s forces returned toward Carthage in terror, 
marching only at night, and hiding by day in the olive 
woods. During every stage some of the men died. 
They frequently thought themselves to be lost. Fi- 
nally they attained the Cape of Hermseum, where ves- 
sels came for them. Hanno was so fatigued, so des- 
perate, and especially so overwhelmed by the loss of 
the elephants, that he besought Demonades to admin- 
ister poison to him, and thereby put an end to his ex- 
istence. Besides, he already imagined himself ex- 
tended on his cross. 

Carthage, however, did not possess the strength to 
be indignant with him. The losses amounted to four 


122 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


hundred thousand nine hundred and seventy-two shek- 
els of silver, fifteen thousand six hundred and twenty- 
three shekels of gold, eighteen elephants, fourteen 
members of the Grand Council, three hundred patri- 
cians, eight thousand citizens, corn enough for three 
moons, considerable baggage, and all their war en- 
gines. 

The defection of Narr’ Havas was undoubted. The 
two sieges recommenced, and now Autharitus’s army 
extended from Tunis to Rhades. From the top of the 
Acropolis could be seen, over the surrounding country, 
wide columns of smoke ascending to the sky from the 
burning mansions of the patricians. 

One man only had the power to save the Republic. 
The Carthaginians repented that they had misunder- 
stood him, and even the peace faction voted holo- 
causts for Hamilcar’s return. 

The sight of the Zaimph had utterly prostrated 
Salammbo. At night she believed she could hear the 
footsteps of the goddess, and would awake terrified 
and screaming. Every day she sent food to the tem- 
ples. Taanach was wearied executing her orders, and 
Schahabarim left her no more. 


CHAPTER VII 

HAMILCAR BARCA 

N IGHTLY, from the summit of the temple of Esch- 
moun, the Announcer-of-the-Moons proclaimed 
through his trumpet the disturbances of the 
planet. One morning he saw in the west what ap- 
peared to be a bird, skimming its long wings over the 


SALAMMBO 


123 


surface of the sea. It was a ship with three tiers of 
oars, the prow ending 1 in a sculptured horse. 

The sun rose; the Announcer-of-the-Moons shaded 
his eyes, and seizing his clarion at arm’s length, sent a 
ringing blast over Carthage. 

The people issued from every house, unable to be- 
lieve the announcement, and disputing amongst them- 
selves the probability of its truth. The pier was soon 
crowded with the curious. Finally, Hamilcar’s trireme 
was recognised by all. 

The vessel advanced in proud and haughty fashion, 
her yard perfectly straight, her sail bulging the entire 
length of the mast. Cleaving the foam about her, her 
gigantic oars struck the water in cadence. From time 
to time the extremity of her keel, formed like a plough- 
share, was seen as she plunged ; and under the beak at 
the end of the prow, the sculptured horse with ivory 
head, rearing both its feet, seemed to course over the 
plains of the sea. 

As she rounded the promontory her sail fell ; the 
wind had ceased ; and now, near the pilot, could be dis- 
tinguished a man standing bare-headed. It was the 
Suffet Hamilcar himself! About his sides he wore 
shining plates of steel; a red mantle, attached to his 
shoulders, exposed his arms ; two very long pearls 
hung from his ears, and his black bushy beard rested 
on his breast. 

The galley, tossed between the rocks, coasted the 
mole, and the excited crowd followed her along on the 
flag-stones, shouting: 

“Welcome! Greeting! Eye of Khamoun ! Oh, de- 
liver us ! It is the fault of the Rich ! They desire your 
death ! Guard yourself, Barca ! ” 

He made no response, as if the clamour of the oceans 
and the din of battles had completely deafened him. 


124 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


But as the vessel came under the stairway which de- 
scended from the Acropolis, Hamilcar raised his head, 
crossed his arms, and looked at the temple of Esch- 
moun. He gazed still higher, up into the dome of the 
pure sky, and in a harsh tone cried out an order to his 
sailors. The trireme bounded through the water. She 
grazed the idol set up at the corner of the pier to ward 
off storms ; and into the merchant port, full of filth, 
splinters of wood, and fruit-rinds, she crowded, rip- 
ping open the sides of vessels moored to piles ending in 
crocodiles’ jaws. 

The people hastened to follow the vessel. Some ex- 
citedly plunged into the water and swam alongside of 
her. Soon the galley reached the head of the port, be- 
fore the formidable gate, bristling with spikes. The 
gate lifted, to allow the trireme to pass, and it vanished 
under the deep vault. 

The Military Harbour was completely separated 
from the town, and when ambassadors came, they were 
obliged to enter between two walls into a passage 
emerging to the left in front of the temple of Khamoun. 
This large basin of water was round, like a cup, and 
surrounded by quays, where docks were built to shelter 
vessels. Before each dock were two columns, bearing 
on their capitals the horns of Ammon, which formed 
a continuous portico all around the basin. In the cen- 
tre, on an isle, was a house for the Suffet of the sea. 
The water was so limpid that the bottom of the basin, 
paved with white shells, was visible. 

The noise from the streets did not penetrate thus far, 
and Hamilcar, in passing, recognised the triremes 
which he had formerly commanded. There now re- 
mained scarcely twenty vessels in shelter on the shore 
— leaning over on their sides, or straight on their keels, 
with their poops high in the air, displaying their bulg- 


SALAMMBO 


125 


in g prows covered with gilding and mystic symbols. 
The chimeras had lost their wings, the Pataecian gods 
their arms, the bulls their silver horns ; yet all, though 
half defaced, inert, and rotten, were full of associations, 
and still exhaled the aroma of past voyages ; now, like 
disabled soldiers who again meet their old commander, 
these old vessels seemed to say to him : 

“ Here we are ! ’Tis we ! And you also — you are 
vanquished ! ” 

No one excepting the marine Suffet had the right to 
enter the admiralty. Until proof of his death was cer- 
tainly established, he was always considered to be alive. 
By this observance the Elders avoided an additional 
master. Hence, despite their disaffection toward Ha- 
milcar, they had not failed to respect the custom. 

The Suffet entered the deserted apartments, at every 
step recognising armour, furniture, and familiar ob- 
jects, all of which, however, astonished him; even in 
the vestibule there yet remained in a perfuming-pan 
the ashes of the perfumes burned at the time of his de- 
parture, as an offering to conjure Melkarth. It was 
not thus that he had hoped to return! 

All that he had done and that he had seen — the as- 
saults, the incendiary fires, the legions, the tempests — 
came back to his mind : Drepanum, Syracuse, Lily- 
breum, Mount Etna, the plateau of Eryx, his five years 
of battle, till the fatal day when, laying down their 
arms, they had lost Sicily. Once more he saw the 
citron-woods, the herdsmen tending their goats on the 
grey mountains, and his heart beat wildly at the thought 
of another Carthage established down yonder. His 
projects and his memories buzzed in his brain, yet dizzy 
from the pitching of the vessel. An overwhelming 
pang seized him, and suddenly becoming weak, he felt 
the need of drawing closer to the gods. He ascended 


126 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


to the highest story of his mansion; then, after with- 
drawing, from a gold shell suspended on his arm, a 
spatula studded with nails, he opened the door of a 
small oval room. The narrow black discs, encased in 
the walls, were as transparent as glass, and admitted a 
soft light. Between these regular rows of discs, hol- 
lows were made like the niches used for urms in a 
columbarium. Each one of these hollows contained a 
round, dark-coloured stone, apparently very heavy. 
Only people of deep understanding honoured these 
abaddirs, fallen from the moon. By their fall these 
stones signified the planets, the sky, the fire ; by their 
colour, the darkness of night ; and by their density, the 
cohesion of terrestrial things. 

A stifling atmosphere filled this mystic place. The 
round stones in the niches were slightly whitened by 
the sea-sand, which the wind had driven through the 
door. Hamilcar counted them, one by one, touching 
each with the tip of his finger ; then hiding his face 
under a saffron-coloured veil, fell upon his knees, and, 
with outstretched arms, laid himself prone on the 
ground. 

Outside, the daylight struck against the laths of the 
black lattices; in their diaphanous thickness shrubber- 
ies, hillocks, whirlwinds, and indistinct outlines of ani- 
mals were discerned. Within, the light entered, fear- 
ful and yet peaceful, as it must be behind the sun in the 
gloomy spaces of future creations. 

Hamilcar endeavoured to banish from his thoughts 
all the forms, symbols, and appellations of the gods, in 
order better to grasp the immutable spirit which these 
appearances concealed. Something of the planetary 
vitalities penetrated his being, causing him to feel for 
death, and all dangers, a disdain intimate and personal. 

When he arose he experienced a serene intrepidity, 


SALAMMBO 


127 


indifferent alike to mercy or fear; and feeling half-suf- 
focated he ascended to the top of the tower, overlook- 
ing Carthage. 

The city descended in a sweeping curve, with her 
cupolas, temples, golden roofs, mansions, clumps of 
palms, and here and there glass globes, from which re- 
fracted lights sparkled; and surrounding this horn of 
plenty opening out toward him was the gigantic bor- 
der of the ramparts. Below, he could see the harbours, 
the squares, the interior of the courts, and the outlines 
of the streets ; and from this height men appeared as 
mites, and almost level with the pavement. 

“ Ah ! if Hanno had not arrived too late on the morn- 
ing of the battle of the iEgatian islands ! ” Thus think- 
ing, he turned his eyes to the extreme horizon, extend- 
ing his arms tremblingly toward Rome. 

A multitude thronged the steps of the Acropolis. In 
the square of Khamoun, people jostled each other, 
waiting to see the Suffet ; the terraces gradually became 
thronged with eager gazers, some of whom recognised 
and saluted him. In order, however, to rouse their im- 
patience more effectually, he withdrew from sight. 

Hamilcar found awaiting him below in the hall the 
most important men of his faction — Istatten, Subeldia, 
Hictamon, Yeoubas, and others. They recounted to 
him all that had happened since the conclusion of the 
peace — the cupidity of the Elders ; the departure and 
subsequent return of the soldiers ; their demands ; the 
capture of Gisco ; the rape of the Za'imph ; the succour, 
and subsequent desertion, of Utica; but not one ven- 
tured to tell him of the events which concerned him 
personally. Finally they separated, to meet again that 
night at the Assembly of Elders in the temple of 
Moloch. 

The deputation had but just gone, when a tumult 


128 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


was heard outside the gate. Some one attempted to 
enter, in spite of the servants’ protests ; and as the up- 
roar redoubled Hamilcar ordered that the unknown 
person should be shown in. 

An old negress appeared, broken, wrinkled, trembling 
in a stupid manner, and enveloped to her heels in wide 
blue veils. She came forward, facing the Suffet. They 
looked at one another for some moments. Suddenly 
Hamilcar started ; at a gesture of his hand his slaves 
withdrew; and he signed to the negress to move with 
caution, drawing her by the arm to a distant room. 

She threw herself on the floor to kiss Hamilcar’s 
feet ; roughly raising her, he asked : 

“ Where have you left him, Iddibal ? ” 

“ Away down there, master ! ” 

Throwing aside the veils, she rubbed the black from 
her face with one of the sleeves of her tunic ; the senile, 
trembling, stooping figure was transformed, revealing 
a robust old man, whose skin seemed somewhat tanned 
by sand, wind, and sea. A tuft of white hair stood up 
on the crown of his head, like a bird’s aigrette. With 
an ironical glance he pointed to the discarded disguise 
on the floor. 

“ You have done well, Iddibal. It is well ! ” Then, 
with a piercing look, Hamilcar added, “ Does anyone 
yet suspect ? ” 

The old man swore by the Kabiri that the secret 
had not been divulged. They never left their cabin, 
which was three days from Hadrumetum; the shores 
were peopled with tortoises, and the dunes were cov- 
ered with palm trees. “ And, obedient to your com- 
mands, master, I am teaching him to hurl javelins, and 
to manage teams.” 

“ He is strong, is he not ? ” 

“ Yes, master, and intrepid, also ; he fears neither 


SALAMMBO 


129 


serpents, nor thunder, nor phantoms. He runs bare- 
footed, like a herdsman, on the very brink of the preci- 
pices.” 

“Speak! Speak!” 

“ He invents snares to capture wild beasts. The 
other moon — would you believe it? — he surprised an 
eagle. He clutched it ; and the blood of both child and 
struggling bird spattered through the air in large 
drops, like the wind-driven roses. The furious bird 
enveloped him with the beating of its strong wings ; 
but the dauntless boy seized it more firmly, and clasped 
it against his chest; and, in proportion as its death 
agony increased, his laughter redoubled, till it rung out 
glorious, like the clash of swords.” 

Hamilcar lowered his head, dazzled by these presages 
of greatness. 

“ But, for some days he has been restless and agi- 
tated. He watches the far-off sails passing by at sea ; 
he is melancholy, and refuses his food! he asks ques- 
tions about the gods, and he desires to know Carthage.” 

“ No! no! not yet! ” exclaimed the Suffet. 

The old slave seemed to understand the peril that 
disturbed Hamilcar, and resumed : 

“ But how is he to be restrained ? Already he has 
made me promise; and I should not have come to 
Carthage except to buy him a dagger with a silver 
handle, encircled by pearls.” 

Then the slave described how, having espied the Suf- 
fet on the terrace, he had managed to pass the guards 
of the harbour in the guise of one of Salammbo’s wo- 
men, in order to reach his master’s presence. 

Hamilcar remained a long time lost in meditation. 
At last he said : 

“ To-morrow, at sunset, present yourself at Megara, 
behind the purple factory, and imitate a jackal cry 


130 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


three times. If you do not see me, the first day of each 
moon you are to return to Carthage. Forget nothing ! 
Cherish him! You may speak to him now of Hamil- 
car.” 

The slave resumed his disguise, and they left the 
house and the harbour together. Hamilcar continued 
his way on foot without an escort, as the conferences of 
the Elders were, on all extraordinary occasions, secret, 
and attended mysteriously. 

At first he skirted the eastern face of the Acropolis, 
then passed by, in succession, the vegetable-market, 
the galleries of Kinisdo, and the suburb of the per- 
fumers. The scattered lights were being extinguished ; 
silence settled on the wider streets, and shadowy forms 
gliding through the darkness followed him: others 
came up — all, like him, directing their steps toward 
the Mappalian district. 

The Temple of Moloch stood at the foot of a steep 
gorge, in a sinister spot. From below only the high 
walls could be perceived, rising indefinitely, like the 
sides of an immense tomb. The night was sombre ; a 
grey fog seemed to weigh upon the sea waves, as they 
beat against the cliffs, with a sobbing and moaning like 
a death rattle ; and the human shadows gradually dis- 
appeared, as if they had glided through the walls. 

Just beyond the entrance was a vast quadrangular 
court, bordered by arcades ; in the centre rose a massive 
structure, with eight uniform sides. Cupolas sur- 
mounted it, ranged around the second story, which sup- 
ported a form or rotunda, from which sprang a cone 
with a returning curve, terminating on the summit in 
a ball. 

In filigree cylinders fastened on standards and borne 
by men, fires burned. These lights flickered in the 
gusts of wind, and reddened the golden combs holding 


SALAMMBO 


131 


the braided tresses at the nape of the necks of the ser- 
vitors. They ran forward, calling to each other to 
receive the Elders. Here and there on the flags enor- 
mous lions crouched like sphinxes — the living symbols 
of the Sun, the Devourer. They dozed with half- 
closed eyes ; but, roused by the tramp of feet and sound 
of voices, they slowly rose and approached the Elders, 
whom they recognised by their costumes ; they rubbed 
against their thighs, curving their backs, and yawning 
sonorously, and the vapour of their breaths passed like 
mist across the flames of the torches. 

The excitement increased ; the gates were closed ; all 
the priests fled, and the Elders disappeared under the 
columns, which formed a deep vestibule around the 
temple. These columns were arranged in a manner to 
reproduce in circular ranges, comprised one within an- 
other, the Saturnian period, containing the years, the 
months within the years, and the days within the 
months — finally reaching to the walls of the sanctuary. 

In this vestibule the Elders laid aside their narwhal- 
tusk staves — as a law, which was always observed, 
punished with death anyone who should enter a session 
with any weapon. 

At the hem of their robes many displayed a rent 
mended by a strip of purple braid, as evidence that they 
were too preoccupied mourning their relatives to be- 
stow time in the arrangement of their clothing, and this 
testimony of their bereavement prevented the rent from 
enlarging. Others, as a sign of mourning, enclosed 
their beards in a small bag of violet-coloured skin, at- 
tached by two cords to their ears. 

Their first act on assembling was to embrace one on- 
other, breast to breast. They surrounded Hamilcar to 
offer congratulations ; they appeared like brothers 
meeting a brother again. 


132 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


The majority were thick-set, with hooked noses, re- 
sembling the Assyrian Colossi; some, by their project- 
ing cheek-bones, their greater height, and narrow feet, 
betrayed an African origin and Nomad ancestors. 
Those who lived constantly in their counting-houses 
had pale faces ; others retained about them the severity 
of the desert, and strange jewels sparkled on all their 
fingers, tanned by unknown suns. The navigators were 
distinguished by their rolling gait, and the agricultur- 
ists had about their persons the odours of wine-presses, 
dried grasses, and the sweat of mules. These old pi- 
rates had farms under tillage ; these money-makers 
equipped vessels; and these proprietors of plantations 
kept slaves who followed various trades. All were 
learned in the religious disciplines, expert in strata- 
gems, unmerciful and rich. Protracted cares had im- 
parted to them an air of weariness ; their flaming eyes 
expressed defiance, and the habit of travel, and of lying, 
and of trading, and of command, gave to their persons 
an aspect of cunning and violence — a sort of circum- 
spect and calculated brutality. Besides, the influence 
of Moloch made them solemn. 

At first they walked through a long, vaulted hall, 
shaped like an egg. Seven doors, corresponding to the 
seven planets, displayed against the wall seven squares 
of different colours. After passing through the long 
room, they entered another similar hall, in which, 
at the far end, was a lighted candelabrum, covered 
with chased flowers, and each one of its eight golden 
branches bore in a chalice of diamonds a wick of bys- 
sus. This candelabrum was placed on the last of the 
long steps leading to a grand altar, terminating * at 
the corners in brazen horns. Two lateral stairways led 
up to its flattened summit, where the stones were cov- 
ered under a mountain of accumulated ashes. Some- 


SALAMMBO 


133 


thing indistinct smouldered slowly upon it. Then be- 
yond, higher than the candelabrum, and even higher 
than the altar, towered up the iron Moloch with his 
man’s breast, in which yawned seven apertures; his 
wings stretched out over the walls ; his tapering hands 
reached to the floor; three black stones, encircled in 
yellow, represented three eyeballs in his forehead ; and 
his bull’s head was raised by a terrible effort, as if to 
bellow. 

All around the hall were ebony benches ; behind each 
was a bronze standard, which rested on three claws, 
and supported a torch. All these lights were reflected 
in the polished surface of the mother-of-pearl lozenges 
paving the hall. The room was so lofty that the red 
walls, as they neared the dome, appeared black, and the 
three eyes of the idol far above seemed like stars half 
lost in the night. 

The Elders sat on the ebony benches, having thrown 
over their heads the trains of their long robes. They 
remained motionless, with their hands crossed in their 
wide sleeves; and the mother-of-pearl pavement was 
like a luminous stream, running under their bare feet 
from the altar towards the door. 

In the centre the four pontiffs sat back to back on 
four ivory chairs, forming a cross. The pontiff of 
Eschmoun robed in hyacinth, the pontiff of Tanith in 
a white linen robe, the pontiff of Khamoun in a reddish 
woollen garment, and the pontiff of Moloch in purple. 

Hamilcar walked forward to the candelabrum, and 
making a circuit of it, examined the burning wicks, 
then threw upon them a scented powder. Instantly vio- 
let flames sprang up at the extremities of the branches. 

Then a shrill voice broke forth, another responded, 
and the hundred Elders, the four pontiffs, and Hamil- 
car, all standing, intoned a hymn, always repeating the 


134 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


same syllables and reswelling the sounds ; their voices 
continued to rise until they became terrible, when, 
simultaneously, all were silent. 

They paused some minutes. At last Hamilcar drew 
from his breast a small three-headed statuette, blue as 
a sapphire, and placed it before him. It was the image 
of Truth, the very genius of his speech. He replaced 
it in his breast, and all, as though seized by a sudden 
fury, screamed out : 

“ These Barbarians are your good friends ! Traitor ! 
Wretch! You have come to see us perish, have you 

not? . . . Let him speak! . . . No! No! . . 

They were revenging themselves for the constraint 
which had been imposed on them by the official cere- 
mony ; and though they had longed for the return of 
Hamilcar, they were now indignant that he had not 

prevented their disasters, or, rather, that he also had 

not suffered under them, like themselves. 

As soon as the tumult was calmed, the pontiff of 
Moloch arose, saying : 

“ Explain why you have not returned to Carthage 
before.” 

“ What is that to you ? ” disdainfully responded the 
Suffet. 

Their outcries redoubled. 

“ Of what do you accuse me? Perhaps, that I have 
conducted the war badly? You have seen the ordi- 
nances of my battles, you who conveniently leave to the 
Barbarians. . . 

“ Enough ! Enough ! ” they yelled. 

He continued in a deep voice, to make himself better 
heard : 

“ Oh, that is true ! I deceive myself ! Lights of the 
Baal. Here in your midst are braves ! Gisco, rise ! ” 
And, moving before the altar step, half-closing his eyes, 


SALAMMBO 


135 


seemingly in search of sone one, he repeated : “ Rise 
up, Gisco ! You can accuse me ; they will support you ! 
But where is he ? ” Then, pausing as though to remind 
himself : “ Ah ! in his dwelling, without doubt. Sur- 
rounded by his sons, commanding his slaves, happy, 
and enumerating on the walls the necklaces of honour 
that his country has conferred upon him ! ” 

They writhed about, shrugging their shoulders, as if 
lashed with thongs. 

“ You do not even know whether he is dead or 
alive ! ” And, without heeding their clamour, he told 
them that in abandoning the Suffet they had deserted 
the Republic. Likewise that the treaty of peace with 
Rome, advantageous though they thought it was, was 
more fatal than twenty battles. 

Some — the least wealthy of the Council, who were al- 
ways suspected to incline toward the people or toward 
tyranny — applauded. 

Their adversaries, the chiefs of the Syssites and ad- 
ministrators, triumphed over them by force of num- 
bers; the most important had gathered near Hanno, 
who sat at the other end of the hall before the high 
door, that was closed by a hyacinth tapestry. 

The ulcers on Hanno’s face were covered with paint ; 
the gold-powder from his hair had fallen upon his 
shoulders, where it made two brilliant patches ; and his 
hair appeared white, fine, and crinkled, like lamb’s wool. 
His hands were wrapped in linen bandages saturated 
with perfumed grease, that trickled down and dropped 
on the pavement ; and his disease seemed considerably 
worse, for his eyes were so covered by the folds of his 
eyelids that, in order to see, he was compelled to tip his 
head backwards. 

His partisans urged him to speak. At length he said, 
in a harsh, hideous voice : 


136 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ Less arrogance, Barca ! We have all been con- 
quered ! Each one bears his own misfortune ; therefore 
be resigned ! ” 

“ Inform us, rather,” Hamilcar smilingly said, “ how 
you steered your galleys into the Roman fleet ? ” 

“ I was driven by the wind out of my course,” re- 
sponded Hanno. 

“ You are like the rhinoceros, who treads in his own 
dung ; you expose your own folly ! Be silent ! ” and 
they began mutual recriminations respecting the battle 
of the islands of Agates. Hanno accused Hamilcar 
of not having come to join forces with him. 

“ But that would have entailed leaving Eryx. You 
should have stood out from the coast. What pre- 
vented you? Oh! I forgot — the elephants are afraid 
of the sea ! ” 

Hamilcar’s partisans found this jest so good that 
they laughed heartily; the dome of the temple re- 
echoed as to the beating of drums. 

Hanno denounced the indignity of such an outrage, 
protesting that his malady had attacked him as the re- 
sult of a chill during the siege of Hecatompylus ; and 
the tears coursed down his face as winter rain over a 
ruined wall. 

Hamilcar continued : “ If you had loved me as much 
as you do that man, there would to-day be great joy in 
Carthage ! How many times have I not implored you 
for aid, and you have always refused to give me 
money ! ” 

“ We needed it here,” said the chief of the Syssites. 

“ And when my affairs were desperate — for we have 
been compelled to drink the urine of our mules cooled 
in our helmets, and have eaten the thongs of our san- 
dals ; when I fairly longed that the blades of grass were 
soldiers, or that I could form battalions with our rot- 


SALAMMBO 137 

ting dead — you called back the vessels yet remaining 
with me ! ” 

“ We could not risk everything,” interrupted Baat- 
Baal, owner of gold mines in Darytian-Gaetulia. 

“ And now, what have you done here in Carthage, 
in your dwellings, behind your walls ? There were the 
Gauls on the Eridanus that should have been stirred; 
the Canaanites at Cyrene, who would have come to our 
help ; and while the Romans were sending ambassadors 
to Ptolemy . . .” 

“ He lauds the Romans to us now ! ” some one cried 
out. “ How much have they paid you to defend 
them ? ” 

“ Ask that of the plains of Bruttium, of the ruins of 
Locri, Metapontum, and Heraclea ! I have burned all 
their trees, have robbed all their temples, and even to 
the death of the grandsons of their grandsons. . . 

‘'Truly, you declaim like an orator!” interrupted 
Kapouras, an illustrious merchant. “ What is it you 
want?” 

“ I say that you must be more ingenious, or more 
formidable! If all Africa rejects your yoke, it will be 
because you do not know how to fasten it on her shoul- 
ders — feeble masters that you are! Agathocles, Re- 
gulus, Coepio, any of the daring men, have only to land 
in order to capture the Republic; and when the Liby- 
ans in the east combine with the Numidians in the 
west, and the Nomads shall have come from the south, 
and the Romans from the north. . . .” 

A cry of horror burst out. 

“ Oh ! you will strike your breasts, roll in the dust, 
and tear your mantles! What matter? You will be 
forced to turn the millstones in Suburra, and gather 
grapes on the hills of Latium.” 

They struck their right thighs to show their offence 


138 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


at such a suggestion, lifting the sleeves of their robes 
like the wings of frightened birds. 

Hamilcar, carried away by an inspiration, continued 
in the same strain as he stood alone on the topmost 
step of the altar, quivering with terrible emotion. He 
raised his arms, and the rays from the candelabrum 
burning behind him, passed in streaks between his fin- 
gers, like javelins of gold. 

“ You will lose your vessels, your fields, your chari- 
ots, your suspended couches, and the slaves who rub 
your feet! The jackals will make their lairs in your 
palaces, the plough pass over your tombs ; all that will 
remain will be the cry of the eagles and a heap of 
ruins ! Carthage, thou shalt fall ! ” 

The four pontiffs threw out their hands to ward off 
this anathema. All had risen ; but the Suffet of the sea 
was a sacerdotal magistrate under the protection of the 
sun and inviolable, so long as the assembly of the Rich 
had not judged him. Terror was connected with the 
altar on which he stood. They drew back. 

Hamilcar said no more. With eyes fixed and face as 
pale as the pearls in his tiara, he panted, almost terri- 
fied at himself, and his spirit lost in dismal visions. 
From the height on which he stood, the torches on the 
bronze standards appeared to him to be a vast crown 
of fire laid flat on the pavement, from which a black 
smoke escaped and rolled up through the darkness of the 
dome. The intensity of the silence for some moments 
was such that the distant roar of the sea could be 
plainly heard. 

Then the Elders counselled among themselves. Their 
interests, their very existence, were attacked by the 
Barbarians. But they could not conquer them without 
the Suffet’s aid ; and despite their pride this fact made 
them overlook every other. They called his friends 


SALAMMBO 


139 


aside, and in a parley made interested reconciliations, 
understandings, and promises. 

Hamilcar protested that he no longer desired any 
command. All implored him to reconsider his decision. 
When the word treason escaped their lips, he was an- 
gry, retorting that the only traitor to Carthage was the 
Grand Council. The engagements with the soldiers 
expired with the war, hence they became free as soon 
as the war ended. He even extolled their bravery, and 
depicted all the advantages that would accrue if the 
soldiers could be permanently attached to the Republic 
by donations and privileges. 

At this, Magdassan, an old governor of provinces, 
rolling his yellow eyes, said : 

“ Truly, Barca, while travelling you have become a 
Greek, a Latin, and I know not what else ! Why do you 
talk of advantages for these men? Better let ten 
thousand Barbarians perish than one of us.” 

The Elders nodded their approval, and murmured : 
“ Yes; why trouble on that score? We can always get 
Mercenaries when needed.” 

“ Yes, and you can easily get rid of them, is it not 
so? Abandon them, as you did in Sardinia. Advise 
the enemy the road they must take, as was done for 
those Gauls in Sicily, or else debark them in the open 
sea. While returning, I saw the rocks white with their 
bones ! ” retorted Hamilcar. 

“ What a pity! ” impudently ejaculated Kapouras. 

“ Have they not gone over a hundred times to the 
enemy ? ” exclaimed others. 

“ Why, then,” answered Hamilcar, “ notwithstand- 
ing your laws, have you recalled them to Carthage ? 
And why, when once here in your city, poor and nu- 
merous amidst your wealth, did you not think to weak- 
en them by some division? You dismissed them with 


140 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


their women and children — without keeping a single 
hostage ! Did you imagine that they would assassinate 
each other and spare you the annoyance of fulfilling 
your pledges? You hate them because they are strong! 
You hate me even more, because I am their master! 
Oh ! I just now felt, when you kissed my hands, that 
you all restrained yourselves with difficulty from biting 
them ! ” 

If the sleeping lions had entered at this moment 
from the outer court, howling wildly, the uproar could 
not have been more awful. But the pontiff of Esch- 
moun rose, and with his knees tightly pressed together, 
his elbows straight, and hands half open, said : 

“ Barca, Carthage requests you to take the general 
command of the Punic forces against the Barbarians ! ” 

“ I refuse ! ” replied Hamilcar. 

“ We will give you full authority/’ screamed out the 
chiefs of the Syssites. 

“ No!” 

“ Without any control ! Without division ! All the 
money that you want ! All the captives, all the booty, 
fifty zerets of land for each enemy’s corpse.” 

“No! no! With you it is impossible to vanquish 
them ! ” 

“ He is afraid ! ” 

“ Because you are cowards, avaricious, ungrateful, 
pusillanimous, and fools ! ” 

“He makes terms with the enemies! To put him- 
self at their head,” cried out some. 

“ And return against us,” screamed others. 

And from the end of the hall Hanno yelled, “ He 
desires to be king ! ” 

Then they all jumped up, overturning the benches 
and torches, and pressed in a crowd toward the altar, 
brandishing daggers. 


SALAMMBO 


141 


Hamilcar, diving under his sleeves, drew forth two 
large cutlasses. Advancing his left foot, he confronted 
and defied them all, as, with flashing eyes and bending 
forward, he stood immovable under the golden can- 
delabrum. 

Thus, as a precaution, every member of the confer- 
ence had carried concealed weapons into the temple: 
it was a crime ; they looked at one another with guilty 
terror. As all were culpable, each became quickly re- 
assured, and gradually turned his back to the Suffet, 
retreating to the body of the hall, enraged and humili- 
ated. For the second time they had recoiled before 
Hamilcar. 

They remained for some moments standing. Some, 
who had carelessly wounded their fingers, held them in 
their mouths, or rolled them up gently in the ends of 
their mantles, and, as they were dispersing, Hamilcar 
heard these words : 

It is a matter of delicacy. He does not wish to 
afflicts his daughter ! ” 

A voice, in a louder tone, answered : “ Doubtless, 
since she takes her lovers from amongst the Merce- 
naries ! ” 

At first he staggered ; then his eyes searched rapidly 
over the throng for Schahabarim. The pontiff of 
Tanit alone had remained seated. Hamilcar could only 
perceive in the distance his tall cap. All sneered at 
the Suffet to his very face, and, as his agony increased, 
their joy redoubled, while amid the confused yells he 
could hear those who were last to depart, screaming 
back at him : 

“ He was seen leaving her bed-chamber ! ” 

“ One morning in the month of Tammouz ! ” 

“ He is the thief of the Zaimph ! ” 

“ A very handsome man ! ” 


142 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ Taller than Hamilcar! ” 

At this he jerked off his tiara, the badge of his dig- 
nity — his tiara of eight mystic rows, with an emerald 
shell in the centre — and with both hands dashed it 
fiercely to the ground. The gold circles broke and re- 
bounded, and the pearls rang out on the pavement. 

On his pale forehead now appeared a long scar that 
moved like a serpent between his eyebrows ; his limbs 
trembled ; he went up one of the lateral stairways lead- 
ing to the. altar, and stepped on the top. It was to 
consecrate himself to the gods by offering himself as a 
holocaust. The movement of his flowing mantle agi- 
tated the lights of the candelabrum, which was lower 
than his sandals, and a fine powder was raised by his 
steps, and floated about him like a cloud, as high up as 
his waist. He stopped between the legs of the brass 
colossus, took up two handfuls of the ashes, the very 
sight of which alone made all the Carthaginians trem- 
ble with terror, and said : 

“ By the hundred torches of your Intelligences ! By 
the eight fires of the Kabiri ! By the stars ! By the 
meteors ! And by the volcanoes ! By all that which 
burns ! By the thirst of the desert ! By the saltness of 
the Ocean ! By the cavern of Hadrumetum, the realm 
of Souls ! By the extermination ! By the ashes of 
your sons, and the ashes of the brothers of your an- 
cestors, with which I now commingle my own ! You, 
the hundred Councillors of Carthage, have lied in ac- 
cusing my daughter! And I, Hamilcar Barca, Suffet 
of the sea, Chief of the Rich and Ruler of the people, 
before Moloch with the bull’s head, I swear. . . 
They waited for something awful ; but he resumed in 
a much louder and calmer voice — “ That I will not 
even speak of it to her ! ” 

The sacred servitors, wearing golden combs, entered, 


SALAMMBO 


143 


some carrying sponges of purple, and others palm 
branches. They raised the hyacinth curtain spread be- 
fore the doorway, and through the opening was visible 
at the end of the other halls the vast rose-coloured sky, 
which seemed to be but a continuation of the temple’s 
vault, and to rest at the horizon upon the blue sea. 

The sun was rising from the billows, striking in full 
radiance against the breast of the brazen idol, which 
was divided into seven compartments, closed by grat- 
ings. Moloch’s jaws, revealing his red teeth, opened 
in a horrible yawn ; his enormous nostrils were dilated ; 
the broad daylight seemed to animate and impart to 
him a terrible air of impatience, as if he would have 
liked to bound outside to mix with the sun and the god, 
and speed with him through the immensities of space. 

Meanwhile the still burning torches, scattered on the 
mother-of-pearl pavement, gleamed like splashes of 
blood. 

The Elders reeled from exhaustion, and filled their 
lungs with long inhalations of fresh air; perspiration 
ran down their livid faces ; their fierce outcries had left 
them almost voiceless ; but their wrath against the Suf- 
fet had not subsided, and their adieux were parting 
threats, to which Hamilcar responded. 

“ To-morrow night, Barca, in the temple of Esch- 
moun ! ” 

“ I shall be there ! ” 

“ We will have you condemned by the Rich ! ” 

“ And I you by the people ! ” 

“ Be warned, lest you end on a cross ! ” 

“ And you, that you are not torn in the streets ! ” 

As soon as they reached the threshold of the court 
they resumed a calm deportment. 

Their runners and charioteers awaited them at the 


144 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


gate. Most departed on white she-mules. The Suffet 
sprang into his chariot, taking the reins himself; the 
two horses arched their necks, struck rhythmically the 
stones, which rebounded under their hoofs, and as- 
cended the entire length of the Mappalian Way at such 
a fleet gallop that the silver vulture on the end of the 
pole seemed to fly as the chariot swept past. 

The road crossed a field set with long stones which 
had pointed pyramidal tops ; on each was carved an 
open hand, as if the dead reposing beneath had reached 
out of their tombs toward heaven to claim something. 
Further along were scattered cone-shaped cabins, built 
of clay, branches, and reed wattles. Little stone walls, 
runnels of water, esparto ropes, and hedges of cactus 
irregularly separated these habitations, which became 
denser as the road approached the Suffet’s gardens. 

But Harnilcar kept his eyes fixed on a large tower 
of three stories, forming three enormous cylinders, the 
first built of stone, the second of brick, and the third 
entirely of cedar, supporting a copper cupola on twen- 
ty-four juniper columns, over which fell like garlands 
the interlacings of slender brass chainlets. This lofty 
edifice overlooked the buildings that extended to the 
right, consisting of the warehouses and counting house, 
while the palace of the women loomed up at the end 
of the avenue of cypresses, which stood in line like 
two bronze walls. 

When the rumbling chariot had entered through the 
narrow gate, it halted under a wide shed, where horses 
were fastened feeding from heaps of cut grass. 

All the servants ran forward. They were indeed a 
host; for those who worked in the adjacent country in 
terror of the soldiers had fled to Carthage. The farm 
labourers, clothed in animals’ skins, dragged behind 
them chains riveted to their ankles ; the workers in the 


SALAMMBO 


145 


purple factories had arms stained red as those of exe- 
cutioners ; the sailors wore green caps ; the fishermen 
coral necklaces ; the hunters bore a net across their 
shoulders, and the people of Megara wore white or 
black tunics, leather breeches, and skull-caps of straw, 
felt, or linen, according to their different employments 
or industries. 

Behind pressed a populace in rags, who lived with- 
out employment, far from the dwelling houses, sleep- 
ing on the ground, sheltered only by the trees in the 
gardens, eating the scraps from the kitchens — human 
excrescences vegetating in the shadow of the palace. 

Hamilcar tolerated them from prudence, even more 
than from disdain. Many of them had never before 
seen the Suffet, but all, as a sign of their joy, wore 
flowers in their ears. 

Men, with head-dresses like sphinxes, carrying large 
clubs, brandished them about in the crowd, striking 
right and left to keep back the slaves over-curious to 
see their master, so that he might not be inconvenienced 
by their numbers or incommoded by their smell. 

Then they all threw themselves flat on the ground, 
crying out : “ Eye of Baal ! May your house flourish 
for ever ! ” and between the men thus prostrated in the 
avenue of cypresses, the intendant of the intendants, 
Abdalonim, wearing a white mitre, advanced toward 
Hamilcar, carrying a censer in his hand. 

Salammbo descended the stairway of the galleys. 
All her slave-women followed her, and at each step she 
advanced they also descended. 

The heads of the negresses made large black spots 
amid the line of bands of golden plaques which bound 
the foreheads of the Roman women. Others wore in 
their hair silver arrows, emerald butterflies, or long pins 
spreading like the rays of the sun. Over the confusion 


146 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


of their white, yellow, and blue garments, their fringes, 
agraffes, necklaces, rings, and bracelets glittered. The 
robes rustled, and the clattering of sandals could be 
heard, accompanied by the dull sound of the naked feet 
upon the wood. Here and there a tall eunuch, whose 
shoulders overtopped the women, smiled with his face 
uplifted. 

As soon as the acclamations of the men were quieted, 
the women, hiding their faces in the sleeves of their 
dresses, uttered in unison a strange cry, like the howl 
of a she-wolf, so furious and strident that it seemed to 
make the grand ebony stairway, now covered with 
women, vibrate like a lyre from top to bottom. 

The wind fluttered their long veils and gently waved 
the slender papyrus stems. 

It was the month of Schebaz, and the depth of win- 
ter; the pomegranate trees, at this season in flower, 
stood out against the azure sky ; through the branches 
the sea appeared, with an island in the distance, half 
lost in the mist. 

Hamilcar paused when he perceived Salammbo. 

Born after the death of several male children, she 
had not been welcomed, for the birth of a daughter 
was considered a calamity in the religions of the sun. 
The gods had given him a son later ; but he never for- 
got his blighted hopes, and, as it were, the shock of the 
malediction he had pronounced against her. 

Meanwhile, Salammbo continued to advance. Pearls 
of various colours fell in long clusters from her ears 
over her shoulders, down to her elbows ; her hair was 
crimped to simulate a cloud. Around her neck she 
wore small quadrangular gold plaques representing a 
woman between two lions rampant, and her costume 
reproduced completely the attire of the Goddess Tanit. 
Her hyacinth robe, with flowing sleeves, drawn tightly 


SALAMMBO 


147 


in at the waist, widened out at the bottom. The ver- 
milion of her lips made her pearly teeth even whiter 
than they actually were ; the antimony on her eyelids 
lengthened her eyes and made them almond shape. 
Her sandals, made of a bird’s plumage, had very high 
heels. She was extraordinarily pale, doubtless because 
of the cold. 

At length she arrived before Hamilcar, and, without 
looking up, or raising her head, she addressed him, 
saying : 

“ All hail, Eye of Baalim! Eternal glory ! Triumph ! 
Contentment! Peace! Wealth! A long time has my 
heart been sad, and the household languished, but the 
master who returns is like Tammuz restored to life ; 
and under thy gaze, O father, joyousness and a new 
existence will expand over all ! ” 

And taking from Taanach’s hand a little oblong 
vase, in which fumed a mixture of meal, butter, carda- 
mon, and wine, she continued : “ Drink a full draught 
of the welcome cup prepared by thy servant.” 

“ Benediction on thee ! ” he replied, mechanically 
grasping the golden vase she proffered to him. 

All the while he examined her with a scrutiny so 
keen that Salammbo, troubled thereat, stammered out : 

“ Thou hast been told, O master ! . . 

“ Yes ! I know ! ” answered Hamilcar, in a low voice. 
Was this a confession? Or did she merely allude to 
the Barbarians? And he added a few vague words 
concerning the public embarrassment that he himself 
hoped now to dispel. 

“ O father ! ” exclaimed Salammbo, “ thou canst 
never repair that which is irreparable ! ” 

At this he started back, and Salammbo was aston- 
ished at his amazement, as she did not dream of Car- 
thage, but of the sacrilege in which she felt herself in- 


148 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


volved. This man, who made legions fear, and whom 
she scarcely knew, frightened her like a god. He had 
divined it ; he knew all ; something terrible was about 
to befall her ; she cried out — “ Mercy ! ” 

Hamilcar lowered his head slowly. Disposed as Sa- 
lammbo was to accuse herself, she dared not now open 
her lips, though she was almost suffocated with the 
desire to complain to, and be comforted by, her father. 
Hamilcar struggled against his inclination to break his 
oath. However, he kept it from pride, or through 
dread of putting an end to his uncertainty, and scanned 
her full in the face, trying with all his might to dis- 
cover what she hid at the bottom of her heart. 

Salammbo, panting, buried her head gradually in her 
bosom, crushed by his austere scrutiny. He was now 
sure that she had yielded to the embrace of a Bar- 
barian. He shuddered, lifting both his fists over her. 
She shrieked and fell back among her women, who 
eagerly pressed about her. 

Hamilcar turned on his heels, followed by all of his 
attendants. The door of the warehouses was thrown 
open, and he entered into a vast, round hall, whence 
long passages led like the spokes of a wheel from its 
hub into other halls. A stone disc stood in the centre, 
surrounded by a railing for holding the cushions that 
were heaped upon the carpets. The Suffet walked 
with long, rapid strides, breathing heavily, striking the 
ground sharply with his heels. He drew his hand 
across his forehead like one tormented by flies ; then he 
shook his head ; and as he perceived the accumulation of 
his wealth he became calmer. His thoughts were at- 
tracted to the perspective of the passages and to the 
adjoining halls filled with the rarest treasures. Therein 
were amassed bronze plates, ingots of silver, and pigs 
of iron alternating with blocks of tin brought from the 


SALAMMBO 


149 


Cassiterides, by way of the Shadowy Sea ; gums from 
the countries of the Blacks overflowed their sacks of 
palm-bark; and gold dust, heaped in leather bottles, 
imperceptibly filtered through the worn seams ; delicate 
filaments, drawn from marine plants, hung amid the 
flax from Egypt, Greece, Taprobane, and Judea. Ma- 
drepores, as broad as bushes, bristled at the base of 
the walls, and an indefinable odour floated about, evi- 
dently proceeding from the abundant store of perfumes, 
spices, hides, and ostrich plumes, tied in large bunches 
at the very top of the roof. Before each passage ele- 
phants’ tusks stood, joined at the points, forming an 
arch above the doorway. 

Finally, he mounted the stone disc. All the intend- 
ants stood with their arms crossed and heads bent, 
while Abdalonim lifted his pointed mitre with a regal 
air. 

Hamilcar questioned the Chief of the Ships. He 
was an old pilot, with eyelids reddened by the wind ; 
his white locks fell to his hips, as if the foam of tem- 
pests had lingered in his beard. 

He answered that he had sent a fleet by Gades and 
Thymiamata to endeavour to reach Eziongeber by 
rounding the South Horn and the promontory of 
Aromata. 

Other vessels had sailed continuously to the west 
during four moons , without making land ; but the 
prows of the vessels became entangled in the weeds ; 
the horizon resounded continually with the noise of 
cataracts ; blood-coloured mists obscured the sun, and 
a breeze, laden with perfumes, put the crews to sleep, 
and their memories had been thereby so much dis- 
turbed that at present they could tell naught concern- 
ing the region. Meantime, other vessels had ascended 
the streams of Scythia, penetrating Colchis to the 


150 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Jugrians and the Estians ; had carried away from the 
archipelago fifteen hundred virgins; and sent to the 
bottom all foreign vessels navigating beyond the cape 
of zEstrymon, in order that the secret of the routes 
might not be known. King Ptolemy had kept back the 
incense from Schesbar, Syracuse, and Elatea. Corsica 
and the islands had furnished nothing. Then the old 
pilot dropped his voice to announce that one trireme 
had been taken at Rusicada by the Numidians — “ For 
they are with them, master.” 

Hamilcar knitted his brows, then signed to the Chief 
of the Journeys to speak. This man was wrapped in a 
brown ungirdled robe, and his head was bound round 
by a long scarf of white material, which passed over 
his mouth and fell back on his shoulders. 

The caravans had gone out regularly at the winter 
equinox. But out of fifteen hundred men bound to the 
further Ethiopia with excellent camels, new leather bot- 
tles, and stocks of painted linen, one only had returned 
to Carthage; all the others had died from fatigue, or 
become mad through the terrors of the desert. He said 
that he had seen far beyond the Black Harosch, beyond 
the Atarantes, and the country of the big apes, im- 
mense kingdoms where even the ordinary utensils were 
of gold; a river the colour of milk and spreading out 
like the sea, forests of blue trees, hills of aromatics, 
monsters with human faces, vegetating on rocks, whose 
eyes opened like flowers to look at you; then, behind 
lakes covered with dragons, mountains of crystal sup- 
porting the sun. Other caravans had returned from 
the Indies, bringing peacocks, pepper, and some new 
materials. As for those who went to purchase chalce- 
donies, by the road of the Syrtis and the temple of Am- 
mon, they had doubtless perished in the sands. The 
caravans of Gaetulia and Phazzana had furnished their 


SALAMMBO 


151 


usual supplies, but he, the Chief, did not at present dare 
to equip any other expeditions. 

Hamilcar, comprehending by this that the Merce- 
naries occupied the country, moaned as he leaned on 
his other elbow. 

The Chief of Farms, who was summoned next in 
order, was in such fear that he trembled violently, in 
spite of his thick-set shoulders and great red eyes ; his 
flat-nosed face resembled a mastiff’s, and was sur- 
mounted by a network of bark-fibres ; he wore a girdle 
of hairy leopard skin, in which shone two formidable 
cutlasses. 

As soon as Hamfi—r turned toward him, he ut- 
tered a cry invoking all the Baals, protesting he was 
not to blame ! He could do nothing ! He had watched 
the temperature, the land, the stars; had made the 
plantations at the solstice of winter ; had pruned at the 
wane of the moon ; and had inspected the slaves, and 
provided them with clothing. 

Hamilcar, irritated by such loquacity, clacked his 
tongue, and the man with the cutlasses continued in a 
rapid voice : 

Ah ! master ! They have plundered everything ! 
sacked everything ! destroyed everything ! Three thou- 
sand feet of timber were cut down at Maschala, and at 
Ubada the granaries were broken open and the cisterns 
filled up! At Tedes they carried off fifteen hundred 
gomors of wheat ; at Marazzana they killed the herds- 
men, ate the flocks, and burned your house, your beau- 
tiful house of cedar beams, where you spend the sum- 
mers. The slaves of Tuburbo, who reaped the barley, 
fled to the mountains; and of the asses, riding and 
working mules, the cattle of Taormina, and the ante- 
lopes, not one remains ; all were taken away. It is a 
curse. I cannot survive it ! ” 


152 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


He began to cry, adding : “ Ah ! if you only knew 
how full the cellars were, and how the ploughshares 
shone ! Ah, the fine rams ! Ah, the fine bulls ! ” 

Hamilcar’s rage suffocated him ; he burst forth : “ Be 
still! Am I then a pauper? No lies! Speak the 
truth ! I wish to know all that I have lost, to the last 
shekel, to the last cab! Abdalonim, bring me the ac- 
counts of the vessels, of the farms, of the caravans, 
and of my household ! And if any of your consciences 
be not clear, sorrow on your heads ! . . . Leave ! ” 

All the attendants retired, walking backward, touch- 
ing their fingers to the ground. 

Abdalonim took from the middle of a nest of pigeon- 
holes in the wall the accounts, which were kept on knot- 
ted cords, bands of linen or of papyrus, and shoulder- 
blades of sheep covered with fine writing. He laid 
them all at Hamilcar’s feet, and placed in his hands a 
wooden frame, strung with three interior wires on 
which gold, silver, and horn balls were strung, and 
began : 

“ One hundred and ninety-two houses in the Map- 
pals, let to the new Carthaginians at the rentals of one 
beka per moon.” 

“ Hold ! That is too much ! Be charitable to the 
poor. Write me the names of those whom you believe 
to be the most courageous, and ascertain if they are at- 
tached to the Republic. What next ? ” 

Abdalonim hesitated, surprised by such generosity. 

Hamilcar impatiently snatched from his hands the 
linen bands, saying, as he looked : 

“What, then, is this? Three palaces around Kha- 
moun at twelve kesitath per month ! Raise it to 
twenty. I do not wish to be devoured by the Rich.” 

Abdalonim after a long salute resumed : “ Loaned to 
Tigilas, until the end of the season, two kikars at thirty- 


SALAMMBO 


153 


three and a third per cent, maritime interest ; advanced 
to Bar-Malkarth fifteen hundred shekels on the secur- 
ity of thirty slaves, but twelve have died in the salt 
marshes.” 

“ In other words, they were not strong,” laughingly 
said the Suffet. “ No matter ! if he needs money, let 
him have it! One must always lend, and at different 
rates of interest, according to the wealth of the per- 
son.” 

Then the servitor hastened to read all that had been 
brought in by the iron mines of Annaba, the coral 
fisheries, the purple factories, the yield of the tax on 
the resident Greeks, and the exportation of silver to 
Arabia, where it was ten times the value of gold ; then 
on the captures of vessels, allowing for the deduction 
of a tenth, being tithes for the temple of Tanit : “ Each 
time I have declared one-fourth less, master.” 

Hamilar reckoned, rattling the balls under his fin- 
gers. 

“ Enough ! What have you paid ? ” 

“ To Stratonicles of Corinth, and three merchants of 
Alexandria, on the letters, which have been cashed, ten 
thousand Athenian drachmas and twelve Syrian tal- 
ents of gold. The provisions for the crews rising to 
twenty minse per month for each trireme. . . .” 

“ I know it ! How much are the losses? ” 

“ Here is the account on these sheets of lead,” said 
the intendant. “ With reference to the ships char- 
tered in common, as throwing the cargoes overboard, 
was often unavoidable, the unequal losses were divided 
according to the number of partners. For ropes bor- 
rowed from the arsenals which it has been impossible 
to return, the Syssites exacted eight hundred kesitath 
before the expedition to Utica.” 

“ The Syssites again ! ” said Hamilcar, bending his 


154 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


head, and remaining for a while as if crushed under 
the weight of all the hatreds he felt levelled at him. 

But I do not see here the Megara expenses.” 

. Abdalonim turned pale, as he brought from another 
pigeon-hole the sycamore-wood tablets filed in bun- 
dles, and tied together with leather straps. 

Hamilcar listened, curious as to the domestic details, 
and calmed by the monotony of the man’s voice as he 
enumerated the accounts, while Abdalonim read slower 
and slower. Suddenly, letting the wooden tablets fall 
to the ground, he threw himself flat on his face with 
arms extended, in the position of one condemned. 

Hamilcar, without evincing any emotion, picked up 
the tablets ; his lips parted and his eyes opened wide 
as he saw charged for the expenses of one day an ex- 
orbitant consumption of meats, fish, birds, wines, and 
aromatics, vases broken, slaves killed, and napery de- 
stroyed. 

Abdalonim, remaining prostrate, told him of the 
Barbarians’ feast and that he had been unable to escape 
from obeying the commands of the Elders. Salammbo, 
too, had commanded that money should be lavished to 
receive the soldiers. 

At the name of his daughter Hamilcar jumped up; 
then compressing his lips, he sank back amid the cush- 
ions, tearing the fringes with his nails, his eyes fixed 
panting. 

“ Arise ! ” said the Suffet. 

Then he descended from the dais, followed by Ab- 
dalomm, whose knees trembled. But seizing an iron 
bar, he went to work like a madman to unseal the 
pavement. A disc of wood flew out and revealed 
under the entire length of the passage, numerous 
broad covers that concealed pits where grain was 
stored. 


SALAMMBO 


155 


“ Eye of Baal ! You see by this,” said the servant, 
trembling, “ they have not taken everything ! For these 
pits are deep, each one fifty cubits, and full to the brim ! 
During your absence I have had similar pits dug in 
the arsenals and in the gardens, so that your mansion 
is as full of grain as your heart is of wisdom.” 

A smile passed over Hamilcar’s face. 

“ It is well, Abdalonim.” Afterward he whispered : 
“ You must obtain grain from Etruria and Bruttium, 
and from whatever place you can and at any price. 
Amass it and keep it stored. It is important that I 
alone possess all the grain in Carthage.” 

Then, when they reached the end of the passage, 
Abdalonim, with one of the keys hanging from his 
girdle, opened a large quadrangular room, divided in 
the centre by cedar pillars. Gold, silver, and brass 
coins were piled on tables, or stacked in niches that 
extended the length of the four walls, reaching up to 
the beams of the roof ; enormous coffers of hippo- 
potamus hide stood in the corners, supporting rows of 
smaller bags ; and bullion heaped up, made hillocks on 
the pavement, while here and there piles too high had 
toppled over, appearing like columns in ruins. The 
large pieces of Carthaginian money, stamped on the 
face with a representation of Tanit and a horse un- 
der a palm tree, were mixed with those of the colo- 
nies on which were stamped the figure of a bull, a 
star, a globe, or a crescent. Then, disposed about in 
unequal amounts, were pieces of all values, and di- 
mensions, and ages, from the ancient ones of Assyria, 
that were slender as a finger-nail, to the old ones of 
Latium, that were thicker than a hand; there were 
also the buttons of iEgina, the tablets of Bactria, and 
the short bars of ancient Lacaedemonia. The coins 
were rusty, greasy with dirt ; many were covered with 


156 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


verdigris, having been fished up out of water in nets ; 
others were blackened by fire, having been found 
after sieges in the midst of the ruins. 

The Sufifet had quickly calculated whether the pres- 
ent sums corresponded with the gains and losses that 
had just been submitted to him, and he was about 
proceeding when he discovered three brass jars com- 
pletely empty. Abdalonim averted his head with a 
sign of horror, and Hamilcar resigned himself in si- 
lence. 

They crossed other passages and other halls, coming 
at last before a door where, to guard it the better, a 
man was fastened about the waist to a long chain, 
rivetted in the masonry of the wall — a Roman custom 
but lately introduced into Carthage. His beard and 
nails had grown excessively long, and he swayed from 
right to left, with a continued oscillation, like that of 
a captive animal. 

As soon as he recognised Hamilcar, he cried out: 
“ Mercy, Eye of Baal ! Pity ! Kill me ! It is now ten 
years since I have seen the sun ! In the name of your 
father, mercy ! ” 

Without answering him, Hamilcar clapped his 
hands. Three men appeared, who, with the assistance 
of Abdalonim, set at once to work, straining their 
arms in the effort to release from its ring the enor- 
mous bar securing the door. Hamilcar took a torch, 
and disappeared in the darkness. 

This was believed to be a passage leading to the 
family sepulchre ; but only a wide pit would have been 
found, which was excavated to mislead thieves, and in 
reality concealed nothing. 

Hamilcar passed it, then, leaning down, turned aside 
on its rollers a very heavy millstone ; there was re- 
vealed an opening, through which he entered an apart- 


SALAMMBO 


157 


ment built in the form of a cone. The walls were 
covered with brass scales. In the centre, on a granite 
pedestal, was a statue of one of the Kabiri, bearing the 
name of Aletes, the discoverer of the mines in Celti- 
beria. Against the base of this statute, on the ground, 
were placed crosswise, broad golden bucklers, and 
monstrous silver vases with closed necks, all of such 
an extravagant form as to make them useless, it being 
the custom to cast such quantities of metal in these 
objects as to render it next to impossible to embezzle 
or even move them. 

With his torch he lighted a small miner’s lamp 
fixed in the idol’s cap. Immediately the hall was illu- 
minated with green, yellow, blue, violet, wine and blood 
coloured lights ; for it was filled with precious stones 
placed in golden calabashes hanging like sconces to 
brass plates, or in their native blocks ranged along at 
the base of the walls. Here were to be found in 
abundance turquoises shot away from the mountains 
by the swirl of a sling; carbuncles formed by lynxes’ 
urine, tongue-like stones fallen from the moon, tyanos, 
diamonds, sandastrum, beryls, the three varieties of 
rubies, the four species of sapphires, and the twelve 
kinds of emeralds. These precious stones flashed va- 
riously like splashes of milk, blue icicles, or silver 
dust, and threw their rays in sheets, in beams, or like 
twinkling stars. The ceraunia engendered by the 
thunder scintillated near the chalcedonies, which nulli- 
fied the effect of poisons. There were topazes from 
Zabarca, effective in warding off terrors; opals from 
Bactria, employed to prevent abortions, and horns of 
Ammon, which are placed under the beds to invite 
dreams. 

The fantastic fires from the gems and the flames 
from the lamp were mirrored in the broad, gold shields. 


158 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Hamilcar stood with folded arms, smiling — and he 
revelled less in the spectacle than in the consciousness 
of his riches. They were inaccessible, inexhaustible, 
infinite. The thought of his ancestors sleeping be- 
neath his feet sent thrilling to his heart some concep- 
tion of their eternity: he felt drawn very near to the 
subterranean spirits. He experienced an emotion akin 
to the joy of a Kabiri, and the large luminous rays 
striking his face, resembled the end of an invisible net- 
work that crossed abysses, and attached him to the 
centre of the world. 

An idea came which made him shiver: he went be- 
hind the idol, and walked straight therefrom to the 
wall ; he searched on his arm amid numerous tattoo- 
ings; examining a horizontal line with two perpen- 
dicular lines, which in Canaanite figures expressed 
thirteen ; then he counted to the thirteenth brass plate 
on the wall, when he again lifted his sleeve, and with 
his right hand traced on another part of his arm other 
lines more complicated, delicately moving his fingers 
as if he played upon a lyre. Finally, he struck seven 
blows with his thumb, at which one entire section of 
the wall turned around as a single block. This con- 
cealed a sort of cellar, in which were enclosed mysteri- 
ous things that possessed no names, but of an incal- 
culable value. Hamilcar descended the three steps, 
took from a silver vat an antelope’s skin that floated 
in a black liquid, and then reascended. 

Abdalonim then walked before him. At each step 
he struck the pavement with his tall staff, the handle 
of which was ornamented with bells, and before the 
door of each room cried Hamilcar’s name, accom- 
panied with praises and benedictions. 

In the circular gallery, from which branched all the 
lobbies, were small beams of. algum-trees ; piled along 


SALAMMBO 


159 


the walls were sacks of henna, cakes of Lemnos-earth, 
and tortoise-shells filled with pearls. The Suffet in 
passing brushed unheedingly with his robe gigantic 
pieces of amber, formed by the sun’s rays and almost 
divine. 

A mist of odorous vapour arose. 

“ Open that door ! ” the Suffet commanded. 

They entered. Naked men were laboriously en- 
gaged kneading pulp, pressing herbs, stirring the 
fires, pouring oil into jars, opening and closing little 
oval cells excavated all around in the walls, which 
were so numerous that the room resembled the in- 
terior of a bee-hive. Myrobalans, bdellium, saffron, 
and violets overflowed the place, and all about were 
gums, powders, roots, glass phials, branches of drop- 
wort and rose petals ; the scents were stifling, in spite 
of the clouds from the storax that crackled in the 
centre on a brass tripod. 

The Chief of Perfumes, pale and very tall, like a 
wax torch, came forward to greet Hamilcar, by crush- 
ing over his hands a roll of aromatic ointment, whilst 
two slaves rubbed his heels with harewort leaves. The 
Suffet repulsed them, for they were Cyrenians of in- 
famous morals, but valued because of their secret 
knowledge in concocting perfumes. 

To display his vigilance, the Chief of Perfumes of- 
fered to the Suffet, in an electrum spoon, a little malo- 
balthrum to taste; then with an awl pierced three In- 
dian bezoars. Hamilcar, who was familiar with the 
artifices of the craft, took a hornful of balm, and after 
holding it near the fire, spilled it on his robe, when a 
brown stain appeared, which proved it was adulter- 
ated. At this he looked fixedly at the Chief, and, 
without saying a word, threw the gazelle-horn in his 
face. 


160 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Indignant as he was that these adulterations should 
be committed to his own detriment, yet upon per- 
ceiving some packages of spikenard that were being 
packed for exportation to the countries beyond the 
seas, he ordered antimony to be added to make them 
heavier. Then he inquired for three boxes of psagas 
destined for his own personal use. 

The Chief of Perfumes avowed that he knew noth- 
ing of them; the soldiers had invaded the distillery 
with drawn knives, and coerced him by threats to open 
the three boxes. 

“You, then, fear their wrath more than mine?” 
cried the Suffet, and through the fumes his eyeballs 
flashed like torches upon the tall, pale man, who be- 
gan to comprehend the situation. “ Abdalonim, be- 
fore sunset have him flogged, and torture him ! ” 

This loss, though less important than the others, 
had exasperated him. In spite of his efforts to banish 
the Barbarians from his thoughts, he was continually 
reminded of them. Their excesses were confused with 
his daughter’s shame, and he was angered to think 
that his household knew, and had not mentioned it to 
him. But something impelled him to plunge deeper in 
his misfortune, and, taken with an inquisitorial rage, 
he paid visits of inspection to the hangars, behind the 
house of commerce, examining the stores and supplies 
of bitumen, wood, anchors, cordage, honey, and wax ; 
then the magazines of fabrics, the reserves of provi- 
sions, not forgetting the marble yards and the barn 
of silphium. 

He crossed to the opposite side of the gardens, in- 
specting with keen scrutiny in their cabins the do- 
mestic artisans whose productions were sold ; watched 
the tailors as they embroidered mantles, others as 
they knotted the nets, and others who combed the wool 


SALAMMBO 


161 


for cushions or cut out sandals. He viewed the 
Egyptian workers polishing papyrus with a shell, as 
shuttles of the weavers clacked, and the armourers’ 
anvils clanged. To these craftsmen he said: 

“ Forge swords ! Always forge ! I shall need 
them.” And he took from his breast the antelope 
skin that had been macerated in poisons, and ordered 
them to cut and fashion from it a breastplate for him, 
that would be more solid than brass, and impervious 
alike to weapons or flames. 

As soon as he got near the various workers, Ab- 
dalonim, in order to divert the Suffet’s anger from 
himself, sought to anger him against them by dis- 
paraging their work, murmuring: 

“ What a piece of work ! It is a shame ! Truly the 
master is too good ! ” 

Hamilcar, without heeding, went on his way. 

He slackened his pace, as the path was barred by 
large, noble trees, completely charred, such as may be 
seen in woods where herdsmen have camped. The 
roads were barricaded, the palisades were broken, the 
water was lost in the ditches; fragments of glass and 
bones of apes appeared in the midst of muddy puddles. 
On the bushes scraps of cloth hung, and under the 
citrons decaying flowers formed a rotten heap. The 
servants had neglected everything, believing that 
Hamilcar would never return. 

At each step he discovered some new disaster, more 
proofs of the very thing he had forbidden himself to 
learn. Lo ! even now, as he walked about, he soiled 
his purple boots, crushing under foot the very filth of 
the Barbarians ; and yet he had not these wretches at 
the end of a catapult to make them fly into pieces. He 
experienced a sense of humiliation for having de- 
fended them in the Assembly: it was treachery and 


162 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


treason ; but as he could not avenge himself on the 
soldiers, or on the Elders, or on Salammbo, or on any 
person, and his wrath needed some victim, he con- 
demned to the mines all the garden slaves by a single 
decree. 

Each time that Abdalonim saw his master approach 
the parks he shuddered. But Hamilcar first took the 
road to the mill, whence issued a most mournful me- 
lopoeia. 

In the midst of clouds of flour-dust turned the heavy 
mills, constructed of two porphyry-cones, placed one 
upon the other; the uppermost one was of funnel- 
shape, and revolved as it ground the grain on the sec- 
ond cone by the aid of strong bars pushed by men. 
They held their chests and arms firmly against them, 
or pulled with all their might, harnessed to the bars. 
The friction of the breast-strap had formed around 
their armpits purulent sores, such as might be seen 
on asses’ withers ; and black, filthy rags, hardly cover- 
ing their loins, flapped over the thighs like long tails. 
Their eyes were red, the shackles on their feet clat- 
tered and they panted, heaved and tugged in unison. 
On their mouths were muzzles, fastened by little 
bronze chains, rendering it impossible for them to eat 
the meal, and gauntlets, made without fingers, prevent- 
ing them from pilfering. 

At the entrance of the Suffet the wooden bars 
creaked still more loudly, the grain grated in grind- 
ing. Many of these slaves, upon seeing him, fell down 
on their knees, while the others continued their 
drudgery, treading heedlessly over their kneeling com- 
panions. 

The Suffet asked for Giddenem, the governor of the 
slaves, who appeared, displaying the dignity of his 
office by the richness of his costume : his tunic, which 


SALAMMBO 


163 


was slit at the sides, was of fine purple ; heavy rings 
weighed down his earlobes; and the bands of material 
enveloping his legs were joined by a gold lacing, like 
a serpent coiling around a tree, reaching from his 
ankles to his hips. In his hands, covered with rings, 
he held a string of jet beads, to identify the men sub- 
ject to the accursed malady. 

Hamilcar signed to him to unfasten the slaves’ 
muzzles. They all, with cries like famished animals, 
rushed upon the meal, burying their faces in the heaps 
and devouring it. 

“ You starve and exhaust them ! ” said the Suffet. 

Giddenem replied that it was necessary in order to 
subdue them. 

“ Then it was scarcely worth while sending you to 
the training-school for slaves at Syracuse. Bid others 
come before me.” 

And the cooks, butlers, grooms, runners, porters of 
the litters, men from the vapour-baths, and the women 
with their children, all ranged themselves in the gar- 
dens in a single file, from the house of commerce as 
far as the deer park. They all held their breaths ter- 
ror-stricken, and a vast silence reigned over Megara. 
The sun lengthened its rays over the Lagoon below the 
catacombs. The peacocks began to screech. Hamil- 
car moved step by step, before this long array of 
slaves. 

“ Of what use are these old slaves ? ” said he. “ Sell 
them ; there are too many Gauls ; they are drunkards ! 
and too many Cretans, they are liars! Buy for me 
Cappadocians, Asiatics, and Negroes.” 

' He was astonished at the small number of children, 
“ Every year, Giddenem, the establishment should 
have some births. You must leave the huts open every 
night, so that they may mix freely.” 


164 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


The governor then pointed out to him the thieves, 
the lazy, and the mutinous, and he distributed chastise- 
ments, with reproaches to Giddenem, who, like a bull, 
drooped his low forehead, with its thick intercrossed 
eyebrows. 

“ Look, Eye of Baal,” said the governor, pointing to 
a robust Libyan, “ there ; behold one who was discov- 
ered with a rope around his neck.” 

“ Ah ! so you want to die ? ” scornfully said the 
Suffet. 

And the slave, in an intrepid tone, answered “ Yes ! ” 

Without caring either for the example or pecuniary 
loss, Hamilcar ordered — “ Away with him ! ” 

Perhaps he had in his mind the idea of a sacrifice. 
It was a misfortune that he inflicted upon himself in 
order to ward off more terrible ones. 

Giddenem had hidden the mutilated slaves behind 
the others, but Hamilcar perceived them, and de- 
manded of one: 

“ Who cut your arm ? ” 

“ The soldiers, Eye of Baal.” 

Then addressing himself to a Samnite, who stag- 
gered like a wounded heron, he said : 

“ And you — who did that to you ? ” 

The governor had broken his leg with an iron bar. 
Such atrocious imbecility exasperated the Suffet, and 
he jerked away from Giddenem the string of jet. 

“ Curses be upon the dog who wounds the herds ! 
Crippler of slaves — gracious Tanit! Ah, thus would 
you ruin your master! Let him be smothered in a 
dung-heap ! And those who are missing, where are 
they? Have you assisted the soldiers to assassinate 
them ? ” 

His face became so terrible that all the women -fled, 
and the slaves drew back, making a wide circle ; mean- 


SALAMMBO 


165 


time Giddenem frantically kissed Hamilcar’s feet, who 
stood with his hands raised over him. 

But his mind, now clear as during the most critical 
moment of battle, recalled a thousand odious things, 
the ignominies from which he had turned, and by the 
gleam of his anger, as by the lightnings of a terrible 
storm, he instantly realised his disasters. The gov- 
ernors of the country estates had fled from terror, pos- 
sibly by connivance with the soldiers ; all were deceiv- 
ing him. For a long time he had restrained himself ; 
but now he cried out : 

“ Let them be brought and branded on their fore- 
heads with red-hot iron, as cowards ! ” 

The fetters, pillories, knives, and chains for those 
condemned to the mines, the cippes to grip their legs, 
the numella to confine their shoulders, and the scor- 
pions, or whips of three thongs terminating in brazen 
claws, all were brought and spread out in the middle 
of the gardens. 

The slaves were placed facing the sun, toward 
Moloch the Devourer, extended on the ground flat on 
their faces, or on their backs ; and those condemned 
to flagellation were fastened against trees with two 
men beside them, the one who struck the blows and 
the other who counted the stripes. The former wielded 
the whip with both arms, the thongs whistling sharply 
through the air at each blow, and making the bark fly 
off the plane-trees ; the blood would spurt from the 
culprit’s body like rain over the foliage ; and red masses 
writhed, howling, at the foot of the trees. 

Those who were branded tore their faces with their 
nails. The wooden screws creaked, dull thuds were 
heard, and sometimes over all, a sharp scream from 
the victim suddenly pierced the air. 

In the direction of the kitchens, amid ragged cloth- 


166 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


ing and dishevelled hair, men could be seen with bel- 
lows reviving the fires, and the atmosphere was 
charged with the odour of burning flesh. 

The whipped creatures fainted; but retained by the 
cords around their arms, helplessly with closed eyes, 
rolled their heads on their shoulders. Those who were 
looking on uttered screams of fright; and the lions, 
perhaps recalling the recent feast, yawned and 
stretched themselves against the narrow confines of 
their dens. 

Salammbo was now seen on the platform of her 
terrace : she walked wildly from right to left in terror. 
Hamilcar saw her, and it seemed to him that she lifted 
her arms towards him to beseech pardon. With a ges- 
ture of horror he straightway passed into the elephant 
paddocks. 

These animals were the pride of the noble Punic 
families. They had borne their ancestors, had tri- 
umphed in the wars, and they were reverenced as fa- 
vourites of the sun. Those of Megara were the 
strongest in Carthage. 

Before his departure on his last expedition, Hamil- 
car had charged Abdalonim under oath that he would 
ever watch over these creatures. But they had died 
from their mutilations, and now only three were left, 
lying in the dust in the middle of the court, before the 
remnants of their manger. 

Recognising Hamilcar, the elephants came toward 
him. One had his ears dreadfully slit ; another a large 
gaping wound on his knee; and the third had his 
trunk cut off. They looked at him with a pitiful air, 
like reasoning persons; and the one that had lost his 
trunk lowered his enormous head, and bending his 
knees, endeavoured to stroke his master gently with 
the hideous extremity of its stump. At this attempted 


SALAMMBO 


167 


caress from the wounded animal, tears gushed from 
the Suffet’s eyes, and he sprang upon Abdalonim. 

“ Oh, wretch ! to the cross ! to the cross ! ” Abda- 
lonim fainted, falling backward to the ground. 

From behind the purple factories, whence blue 
smoke slowly curled up to the heavens, the yelp of a 
jackal rang out. Hamilcar paused. 

The thought of his son, like contact with a god, 
calmed him at once. It was a prolongation of his 
strength, an indefinite continuation of his personality, 
which now appeared before his mind ; and the slaves 
could not comprehend from what source came this 
sudden appeasement to their master. 

He diverged toward the purple factories ; he passed 
before the ergastulum, a long, black stone structure 
built in a square pit, with a little passage around it, 
and four stairways at the corners. 

To complete his signal, Iddibal was doubtless wait- 
ing for nightfall. Nothing was yet pressing, Hamil- 
car thought. As he descended into the prison some 
cried out to him : 

“ Return ! ” The most daring followed him. 

The open door swung to and fro in the wind. Twi- 
light entered through the narrow loopholes, revealing 
in the interior broken chains hanging to the walls. Be- 
hold, these were all that remained of the war captives ! 
Then Hamilcar grew extraordinarily pale, and those 
who lingered outside in the ditch saw him put one 
hand against the wall for support. But the jackal 
yelped three times in succession. Hamilcar lifted his 
head, he did not speak a word, he did not move. As 
soon as the sun had completely set he disappeared be- 
hind the cactus hedge ; and at night, as he entered the 
assembly of the Rich convened in the temple of Esch- 
moun, he said: 


168 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ Lights of the Baalim, I accept the command of the 
Punic forces against the Barbarians ! ” 


CHAPTER VIII 

THE BATTLE OF THE MACAR 

H AMILCAR, on the day following, drew two hun- 
dred and twenty-three thousand kikars of gold 
from the Syssites and imposed a tax of four- 
teen shekels on the Rich. The women also were made 
to contribute, and a tax had to be paid for the chil- 
dren ; and foreign to all Carthaginian customs — he 
forced the colleges of priests to furnish money. 

He demanded all the horses, mules, and weapons. 
The possessions of those who misrepresented their 
wealth, were confiscated and sold ; and, in order to 
abash the avaricious, he personally contributed sixty 
suits of armour, and twelve hundred gomers of meal 
— as much as was given by the Ivory Company. 

He sent to Liguria to hire as soldiers, three thou- 
sand mountaineers, accustomed to fight bears, advanc- 
ing to them six moons’ pay, at four minse a day. 

Though it was necessary to form an army, he did 
not accept, like Hanno, all the citizens. In the first 
place he rejected those of sedentary occupations ; next, 
those whose bellies were too large, or whose appear- 
ance was cowardly; while, on the other hand, he ad- 
mitted dishonoured men, the dissolute of Malqua, the 
sons of Barbarians, and freed slaves. As reward, he 
promised to the New Carthaginians all the rights of 
the city. 

His first undertaking was to reform the Legion — 


SALAMMBO 


169 


those fine young men, who considered themselves the 
military majesty of the Republic, and were self-gov- 
erned. He reduced all the officers to the ranks; he 
treated the men roughly, making them run, leap, and 
ascend without halting the acclivity of Byrsa; hurl 
javelins, wrestle, and even sleep out of doors in the 
public squares. Their families came to see and pity 
them. 

He directed that the swords should be made shorter, 
and the buskins stouter ; he restricted the number of 
attendants, and reduced the baggage. 

In the temple of Moloch there was kept a treasure 
of three hundred Roman pilums, which he took de- 
spite the pontiff’s protests. 

With the elephants that had returned from Utica, 
and those that were the personal property of citi- 
zens, he organised a. phalanx of seventy-two, and used 
every device to render them formidable. Their drivers 
were provided with a mallet and chisel to split open the 
animals’ skulls if during a melee they tried to run 
away. 

He would not permit the Grand Council to elect his 
generals. The Elders endeavoured to oppose the laws 
to him, but he overrode them, and not one dared mur- 
mur : all bent under the vehemence of his genius. He 
assumed the sole direction of the war, the government, 
and the finances; and, to prevent accusations against 
him, he insisted that the Suffet Hanno should be made 
examiner of his accounts. 

To procure sufficient stones to repair the rampart 
he demolished the old interior walls, which were at 
present useless. But difference of fortune replacing 
the hierarchy of races still made an unsurmountable 
barrier between the sons of the vanquished and those 
of the victors ; and the patricians watched with an ir- 


170 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


ritated eye the destruction of these ruins, while the 
plebeians, hardly knowing why, rejoiced over it. 

Armed troops marched from morning till night 
through the streets ; every moment the sound of trum- 
pets was heard; chariots passed laden with bucklers, 
tents, and pikes ; the courts were thronged with women 
making bandages ; the ardour of one communicated it- 
self to another ; the soul of Hamilcar inspired the Re- 
public. 

He had distributed the soldiers in equal numbers 
of pairs, placing along the lines alternately a strong 
and a weak man, so that the less vigorous or more 
cowardly would be led and impelled by two others. 
But with his three thousand Ligurians and the best of 
the Carthaginians, he could only form a simple phalanx 
of four thousand and ninety-six hoplites, protected by 
bronze casques, and wielding ashwood sarissas four- 
teen cubits long. Two thousand young men were 
armed with slings and a poniard, and shod in san- 
dals. These he reenforced with eight hundred others, 
armed with round bucklers and Roman swords. 

The heavy cavalry consisted of the nineteen hun- 
dred remaining guards of the Legion, mailed in ver- 
milion bronze like the Assyrian Clinabarians. He had 
four hundred mounted archers, called Tarentines, 
wearing weasel-skin caps and leather tunics, and 
armed with a double-edged battle-axe. Finally, mixed 
with the Clinabarians were twelve hundred Negroes 
from the quarter of the caravans, who were to run 
alongside of the stallions, clutching their manes with 
one hand. 

All was ready ; yet Hamilcar did not start. 

Frequently at night he would leave Carthage and 
unaccompanied, go a distance beyond the Lagoon, to- 
ward the mouths of the Macar. Did he intend to join 


SALAMMBO 


171 


the Mercenaries? The Ligurians camped in the Map- 
palian district surounded his mansion. 

The apprehensions entertained by the Rich appeared 
justified when one day they beheld three hundred Bar- 
barians approach the walls. The Suffet ordered the 
gates to be opened to them ; they were deserters, and, 
impelled either by fear or fidelity, they came to their 
master. 

Hamilcar’s return did not astonish the Mercenaries, 
for they did not believe this man could die. He was 
returning to fulfil his promises — a hope which had in 
it nothing absurd, considering how deep the ^abyss was 
between the Republic and the Army. Besides, they 
did not consider themselves culpable ; they had already 
forgotten the feast. 

The spies whom they surprised undeceived them. 
It was a triumph for the desperate ; even the lukewarm 
became furious. The two sieges had overwhelmed 
them with weariness ; nothing was being achieved, it 
were far better to have a battle ! Thus, many of the 
men, disbanding, had taken to wandering over the 
country, but at the news of the armament they re- 
turned. 

Matho leaped with joy, crying out: 

“ At last ! At last ! ” 

The resentment which he had centred upon Sa- 
lammbo now turned against Hamilcar. His hatred 
had for its object a settled prey; and as vengeance 
became more easy to conceive, he almost fancied he 
had attained it, and already gloated over it. At the 
same time he was possessed by a deeper tenderness 
and devoured by a keener desire. 

At one time he saw himself in the midst of the sol- 
diers, brandishing the Suffet’s head upon a pike. At 
another time in the chamber with the purple couch, 


172 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


holding the maiden in his arms, covering her face with 
kisses, stroking her splendid long black hair ; and this 
vision, which he knew could never be realised, tortured 
him. He swore to himself, since his comrades had 
named him Schalischim, to command the war, and the 
certainty that he would never return from it determined 
him to render it pitiless. 

He sought out Spendius in his tent, and said to him : 

“ You get your men ! I shall bring mine ! Warn 
Autharitus ! We are lost if Hamilcar attacks us ! Do 
you hear me ? Arise ! ” 

Spendius was stupefied by this authoritative air. 
Matho had so long permitted himself to be led, and 
the fits of passion he had previously evinced had al- 
ways quickly subsided. But now he seemed at once 
calmer and more terrible; a superb will flashed in his 
eyes like the flames of sacrifice. 

The Greek did not heed Matho’s reasons. He oc- 
cupied one of the pearl-embroidered Carthaginian 
tents, spending his time drinking cool drinks from 
silver cups, playing at cottabus ; letting his hair grow 
long, and conducting the siege indolently. Also he 
had established secret communications with the city, 
and did not wish to depart, believing that before many 
days it would open its gates. 

Narr’ Havas, who constantly wandered between the 
three armies, at this juncture was with Spendius. He 
supported his opinion, and even blamed Matho for 
being willing through an excess of courage to aban- 
don their enterprise. 

“ Leave, then, if you are afraid ! ” cried Matho, 
“ you promised us pitch, sulphur, elephants, foot sol- 
diers and horses — where are they ? ” 

Narr’ Havas reminded him that he had extermi- 
nated Hanno’s last cohorts; as for the elephants, his 


SALAMMBO 


173 


men were now hunting for them in his forests ; he was 
equipping the infantry, and’ the horses were already 
on the way. 

As he talked the Numidian kept stroking the ostrich 
plume that fell over his shoulder, rolling his eyes like 
a woman and all the time smiling in an aggravating 
manner. Matho stood before him unable to reply. 

Just then an unknown man entered, dripping with 
sweat, terrified, his feet bleeding, his girdle unfastened ; 
and his laboured breathing shook his thin sides enough 
to burst them ; he launched forth in an unintelligible 
dialect, with wide open eyes, as if he were telling of 
a battle. 

The Numidian king sprang outside the tent and 
summoned his horsemen. They ranged themselves on 
the plain in the form of a circle before Narr’ Havas, 
who was now mounted; he bent his head and bit his 
lips. At last he divided his men in two divisions, or- 
dering the first section to await him; then, with an 
imperious gesture, he led the other section at a gal- 
lop, and disappeared on the horizon in the direction of 
the mountains. 

“ Master ! ” said Spendius — “ I do not like these ex- 
traordinary chances — the Suffet who returns, and 
Nan*’ Havas who goes off ! ” 

“ Well! what matters it? ” said Matho disdainfully. 

It was but another reason why they must forestall 
Hamilcar and rejoin Autharitus. But if they aban- 
doned the siege of the cities the inhabitants would come 
out and attack them in the rear, while they would have 
the Carthaginians in front of them. After many dis- 
cussions they resolved upon the following plan, which 
was immediately put in execution. 

Spendius with fifteen thousand men proceeded as 
far as the bridge over the Macar, three miles from 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


174 

Utica. The corners of it were fortified by four enor- 
mous towers upon which were planted catapults. 
With trunks of trees and masses of rock, barricades 
of thornbushes and stone walls, all the mountain paths 
and gorges were blocked. On the summits heaps of 
grass were piled up ready to be fired as signals ; and 
shepherds accustomed to see at long distances were 
posted at regular intervals. 

Hamilcar doubtless would not take the road by the 
Hot Springs Mountain as Hanno had. He would 
certainly conclude that Autharitus, being master of the 
interior, would close the road against him. Then a 
check at the beginning of the campaign would ruin 
Hamilcar, while a victory would only result in soon 
having to begin over again, as the Mercenaries would 
be further off. Again, he could land at the Cape of 
Grapes and then march on to one of the cities ; but he 
would find himself between the two armies: an im- 
prudence which he could not risk with such a small 
number of troops. Therefore he was bound to pro- 
ceed along the base of the Ariana and turn to the left 
to avoid the mouths of the Macar, and march straight 
to the bridge. It was at this point Matho waited for 
him. 

At night by torchlight he inspected the pioneers; 
anon he hastened to Hippo-Zarytus, to inspect the 
works in the mountains ; returning so full of his plans 
that he could not rest. 

Spendius envied his tireless energy, but for all de- 
tails as to directing the spies, the choice of sentinels, 
the construction of machines, and all measures for de- 
fence, Matho listened docilely to his companion. They 
talked no more of Salammbo — one not thinking of her 
and the other restrained by a sense of shame. 

Often Matho went in the direction of Carthage, 


SALAMMBO 


175 


striving to see Hamilcar’s army. He darted his eyes 
along the horizon, threw himself flat on the earth, and 
in the throbbing of his own arteries believed that he 
could hear the tramp of troops. 

He declared to Spendius that if before three days 
Hamilcar was not in sight he should march with all 
his men to meet him and offer battle. Two days more 
passed, still Spendius contrived to detain him ; but the 
morning of the sixth day he departed. 

The Carthaginians were just as impatient for battle 
as the Barbarians. In the tents and in the houses all 
felt the same desire, the same pangs ; all were asking 
what kept Hamilcar back. 

From time to time, the Suffet ascended the cupola 
of the temple of Eschmoun and stood beside the An- 
nouncer-of-the-Moons to observe the winds. One day, 
the third of the month of Tibby, he was seen descend- 
ing the Acropolis with hurried steps. A great clamour 
arose in the Mappals, the streets were filled with com- 
motion, and everywhere soldiers began to arm them- 
selves, amid the cries of distracted women, who threw 
themselves upon their breasts ; then they ran to the 
square of Khamoun and fell into their ranks. No one 
was permitted to follow or speak to the soldiers, or to 
approach the ramparts: during some minutes the en- 
tire town was as silent as a vast tomb. The soldiers 
leaned on their lances thoughtfully, and those in the 
houses sighed. 

At sunset the army marched through the western 
gate, but instead of taking the road to Tunis or start- 
ing for the mountains in the direction of Utica, they 
went along the sea-coast, and by this road they soon 
reached the Lagoon, where large round spots whitened 
with salt glistened like gigantic silver plates forgotten 
on the shores. Further on, the puddles of water mul- 


176 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


tiplied, the ground gradually became softer, the sol- 
diers’ feet sank in it; yet Hamilcar went on. He al- 
ways moved at the head of the troops, mounted on his 
horse, spotted yellow like a dragon, that kept tossing 
the froth about as he advanced, straining his loins, 
through the mire. Night came, misty and moonless. 
Some of the soldiers cried out that they would perish ; 
he snatched away their weapons and gave them to the 
serving men. 

At every step the mud became deeper and deeper ; 
it was necessary for the men to mount the beasts of 
burden, others clung to the horses’ tails ; the robust 
pulled up the weak, and the Ligurians drove forward 
the infantry at the points of their spears. The obscur- 
ity increased : the road was lost : all halted. 

Then the Suffet’s slaves advanced to seek for the 
buoys planted at certain distances by his orders; they 
shouted back through the darkness and the army fol- 
lowed them. 

Soon the resistance of firm ground was felt. Then 
a whitish curve became vaguely outlined, and they 
found themselves on the banks of the Macar. Not- 
withstanding the cold, no fires were lighted. 

In the middle of the night squalls of wind arose. 
Hamilcar commanded the officers to arouse the sol- 
diers, but no trumpets were sounded; the captains 
moved quietly about, tapping the men on their shoul- 
ders. 

A very tall man waded into the water; it did not 
reach to his girdle ; the army could ford it. 

The Sufifet ordered thirty-two of the elephants to 
be placed in the stream, one hundred paces apart, 
whilst others stationed below would stay the lines of 
men being swept away by the current; and all the 
troops, holding their weapons above their heads, 


SALAMMBO 


177 


crossed the Macar as between two walls. Hamilcar’s 
observations had revealed the fact, that when the west- 
erly winds blew they drove the sand in such a way 
as to obstruct the stream bv forming across it a 
natural causeway. 

He was now on the left bank facing Utica, and on 
a vast plain, an advantage for the elephants, which 
constituted the main strength of his army. 

This stroke of genius aroused the enthusiasm of the 
soldiers ; an extraordinary confidence returned to them ; 
they wanted to fall immediately upon the Barbarians; 
but the Sufifet ordered them to rest for at least two 
hours. 

As soon as the sun appeared the troops marched into 
the plain, in three lines; the elephants first, then the 
light infantry with the cavalry behind them, and lastly 
the phalanx. 

The Barbarians encamped at Utica, and the fifteen 
thousand around the bridge were surprised to see in 
the distance the ground undulating. The wind, which 
blew very strongly, chased tornadoes of dust, they 
lifted themselves up, as if detached from the soil, in 
large golden pillars, then parted asunder, always begin- 
ning again, and thus hiding from the view of the 
Mercenaries the Punic army. The effect produced by 
the horns placed on the side of the casques caused 
some to believe that they perceived a herd of cattle ; 
others, deceived by the fluttering mantles, pretended 
to distinguish wings ; and those who had travelled 
much shrugged their shoulders, saying that it was 
the illusion of the mirage. Still something subtle of 
enormous size continued to advance. Little vapours, 
as breaths, floated over the surface of the desert. The 
sun, now much higher, shone powerfully ; a fierce 
glare, which seemed to quiver, made the depth of the 


178 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


sky more profound, and permeating objects rendered 
the distance incalculable. 

The immense plain developed on all sides beyond 
the reach of vision ; and the almost invisible undula- 
tions of the ground were prolonged to the extreme 
horizon, closed in by the long blue line which they 
knew to be the sea. The two armies went forth from 
their tents to gaze; and the people of Utica crowded 
upon the ramparts. 

They distinguished many transverse bars bristling 
with even points ; these became thicker and larger ; 
black hillocks swayed ; suddenly square bushes ap- 
peared : they were the elephants and the lances. A 
single yell burst forth : 

“ The Carthaginians ! ” and, without signal or com- 
mand, the soldiers at Utica and those stationed at the 
bridge made a dash pell-mell to fall in one body upon 
Hamilcar. 

Spendius shuddered and breathlessly repeated — 
“ Hamilcar ! Hamilcar ! ” And Matho was not there ! 
What should be done? No means for flight! 

The surprise of this event, his terror of the Suffet, 
and above all the urgency for an immediate resolution, 
upset him : he could see himself slashed by a thousand 
swords, decapitated, dead. 

Meanwhile they called for him. Thirty thousand 
men were ready to follow his leadership; a fury 
against himself seized him and he fell back upon the 
hope of victory; it was full of delight, and he fan- 
cied himself braver than Epaminondas. To hide his 
pallor he smeared his cheeks with vermilion, then he 
buckled on his greaves and cuirass, swallowed a cup 
of pure wine, and ran hotly after his troops, who had 
hastened toward those of Utica. 

They united so rapidly that the Sufifet had not time 


SALAMMBO 


179 


to range his men in line of battle. Gradually he slack- 
ened his pace. 

The elephants stopped, swaying their heavy heads, 
covered with ostrich-plumes, and striking their shoul- 
ders with their trunks. 

At the back through the intervals could be distin- 
guished the cohorts of velites, and further on, the 
large helmets of the Clinabarians with polished weap- 
ones that glittered under the sun’s rays; cuirasses, 
plumes, and waving standards. 

But the Punic army all told numbering only eleven 
thousand three hundred and ninety-six men, seemed 
scarcely to contain so many, for it formed a long 
square, narrowed at the flank and closed up on itself. 
Seeing them so weak the Barbarians were possessed 
with a riotous joy, for they were three times the num- 
ber of the enemy. 

As yet no one had discerned Hamilcar ; he had per- 
haps remained behind? What difference, after all? 
The disdain that they had for these merchant soldiers 
reenforced their courage; and before Spendius could 
command the manoeuvre, it had all been anticipated 
and already executed. 

They deployed in a long straight line that over- 
lapped the wings of the Punic army, in order to com- 
pletely encompass it. But when they were not more 
than three hundred paces apart, the elephants, instead 
of advancing, turned back ; then behold, the Clina- 
barians wheeled round and followed them, and the sur- 
prise of the Mercenaries was great when they per- 
ceived all the archers running to rejoin them. The 
Carthaginians were afraid ; they were flying ! A for- 
midable hooting burst out among the Barbarian troops, 
and from the back of his dromedary Spendius cried 
out : 


180 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ Ah, I knew it well ! Advance ! Forward ! ” 

Then launched forth instantaneously through the 
air, streams of javelins and darts, and balls from whir- 
ring slings. The elephants, galled on their haunches 
by the flying arrows, galloped rapidly and stirred up 
a great dust, presently vanishing like shadows in a 
cloud. 

Far beyond could be distinguished a loud noise of 
tramping, predominated by the shrill blare of trum- 
pets blown furiously. The spaces before the Bar- 
barians, full of eddies and tumult, drew them in like 
a whirlpool, and some dashed headlong into it. The 
cohorts of infantry appeared ; they closed their ranks, 
and simultaneously all the others saw the foot soldiers 
running with the galloping cavalry. 

Hamilcar had ordered the phalanx to break its sec- 
tions, for the elephants, light infantry, and cavalry to 
pass through these intervals, in order to take up their 
stations quickly on the wings; and he had so exactly 
calculated the distance from the Barbarians that at 
the moment when they came within reach, the entire 
Carthaginian army was re-formed in a long straight 
line. In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed in 
syntagmata or perfect squares, having sixteen men on 
each side. All the file leaders appeared between the 
long sharp points, which jutted unequally beyond them, 
for the first six ranks crossed their sarissas, holding 
them in the middle, and the ten lower ranks supported 
theirs on the shoulders of their comrades immediately 
before them. 

Their faces were half hidden under the visors of 
their casques, bronze greaves covered their right legs, 
and broad cylindrical shields reached down to their 
knees; and this awful quadrangular mass, moving as 
a single piece, seemed to possess the life of an animal 


SALAMMBO 


181 


and the functions of a machine. Two cohorts of ele- 
phants bordered it, and the huge creatures kept quiv- 
ering, to detach the splinters of the arrows sticking 
in their black hides. The Indians crouching on their 
necks amidst tufts of white plumes, guided them with 
the spoon-shaped end of the harpoons they wielded ; 
while in the towers men concealed as far as their shoul- 
ders, waved, behind the great bent bows, iron holders 
containing burning tow. 

On the right and left of the elephants hovered the 
slingers, each with a sling around his head, another 
about his loins, and a third in his right hand. Then 
came the Clinabarians, each one flanked by a Negro, 
holding their lances between the ears of their horses, 
covered, like their riders, with gold. Following at in- 
tervals came the light-armed soldiers, with bucklers of 
lynx-skin, over which projected the points of the jave- 
lins which they held in their left hands ; and the Ta- 
rentines, each managing two horses coupled together, 
finished off at both extremities this wall of soldiers. 

The Barbarian army, on the contrary, had not been 
able to maintain its line. Its enormous length wav- 
ered and opened out in gaps. All panted, breathless 
from running. The phalanx swayed heavily as it 
thrust forward all its sarissas ; under this tremendous 
weight the Mercenaries’ thin lines gave way in the 
middle. 

The Carthaginian wings opened out to seize them ; 
the elephants followed : with lances held obliquely the 
phalanx cut the Barbarians in two ; both the enormous 
bodies were shaken ; the wings, with volleys of arrows 
and balls, drove them back against the phalangites. 
The cavalry failed to disengage itself, with the excep- 
tion of two hundred Numidians, who charged the right 
squadron of the Clinabarians. All the others were 


182 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


hemmed in and could not escape from the lines. De- 
struction was imminent and the necessity of coming 
to some resolution urgent. 

Spendius commanded an attack on both flanks of the 
phalanx to be made simultaneously, so as to force a 
passage right through it. But the narrowest ranks 
glided within the longer ones, returned to their posi- 
tion, and the phalanx wheeled to meet the Barbarians, 
as terrible on its flanks as it had been just before on its 
front. 

They struck against the staves of the sarissas ; the 
cavalry in the rear foiled their attack, and the phalanx, 
supported by the elephants, kept closing up and ex- 
tending, and presented successively a square, a cone, 
a rhombus, a trapezium, and a pyramid. A double in- 
terior movement was continually being made from its 
front to its rear, as those who were at the end of the 
files ran toward the first ranks, while those who were 
fatigued or wounded fell back to the base. The Bar- 
barians found themselves crowded on to the phalanx. 
It was impossible for it to advance ; the field of action 
appeared like an ocean whereon were tossing red 
plumes and bronze scales, while the bright bucklers 
rolled like silver foam. Sometimes from end to end 
wide currents would descend and then ascend, while in 
the centre a dense mass remained motionless. 

The lances bent and rose alternately. Elsewhere 
was so rapid a movement of naked blades that only the 
points could be distinguished, and the turms of cavalry 
swept in wide circles which closed up behind them in 
eddies. 

Above the captains’ voices, the blare of the clarions 
and the twanging of lyres, leaden bullets and almond- 
shaped pellets of clay whistled through the air, smit- 
ing swords from hands and making brains leap from 


SALAMMBO 


183 


the skulls. The wounded, sheltering themselves with 
one arm under their shields, pointed their swords while 
the pommel rested on the ground, and others, writhing 
in pools of blood, turned to bite the passers’ heels. 
The multitude was so compact, the dust so thick, the 
tumult so deafening, that it was impossible to distin- 
guish anything clearly ; the cowards who offered to sur- 
render were not even heard. When men were dis- 
armed they gripped body to body, and breasts cracked 
against the cuirasses, and the heads of the corpses 
hung backward between nerveless arms. 

There was a company of sixty Umbrians who, firm 
on their legs, their pikes advanced before their eyes, 
unshaken and grinding their teeth, cut down and 
forced back two syntagmata at once. The Epirote 
shepherds ran to the left squadron of the Clinabarians, 
seized their horses by the manes, twisting their clubs 
in them, till the tortured animals, throwing their riders, 
fled across the plain. The Punic slingers, scattered 
here and there, stood agape. The phalanx began to 
waver, the captains ran about distracted, the rear ranks 
pressed on the soldiers, and the Barbarians had re- 
formed their lines. They returned to the charge ; the 
victory was within reach. 

But a cry, one frightful shriek, burst out, a roar of 
pain and rage ; it came from the seventy-two elephants 
charging down in a double line. Hamilcar had waited 
until the Mercenaries were massed in a single spot, 
before loosing the elephants upon them ; the Indians 
had goaded them so cruelly that the blood ran over 
their large ears. Their trunks were bedaubed with 
minium, and they held them straight in the air like red 
serpents; their breasts were accoutred with a boar- 
spear, their backs with a cuirass, their tusks elongated 
with iron blades curved like sabres ; and to render them 


184 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


more ferocious, they had been intoxicated with a mix- 
ture of pepper, pure wine, and incense. They shook 
their necklaces of bells, shrieking, and the elephant- 
archs lowered their heads to avoid the stream of flam- 
ing darts which began to fly from the tops of the 
towers. 

In order to resist the charge more effectually, the 
Barbarians closed up in a compact body ; the elephants 
dashed themselves impetuously into the middle of it. 
The boar-spears attached to their breasts like the prows 
of ships clove through the cohorts, which fell back in 
great waves ; with their trunks the elephants kept 
strangling men, or, snatching them from the ground, 
held them over their heads and delivered them to the 
soldiers in the tower ; with their tusks they disembow- 
elled their victims and tossed their bodies in the air, 
while long entrails hung from their ivory tusks like 
bundles of cordage from masts. The Barbarians en- 
deavoured to blind them or hamstring them; others 
glided under their bodies and plunged their blades up 
to the hilts, but were crushed beneath the falling ani- 
mals and perished; the more intrepid clutched on to 
their girths, under the down-pouring volley of flames, 
balls, and arrows, and continued to sever the leather 
till the wicker towers rolled off like a tower of stones. 
Fourteen elephants on the extreme right, maddened by 
their wounds, turned on the second line ; the Indians 
seized their mallets and chisels, and applying them to 
the neck- joint, with all their force struck one mighty 
blow. 

Down the enormous animals sank, falling one upon 
another, forming almost a mountain, and on the heap 
of carcasses and armour a monstrous elephant, called 
Fury of Baal, caught by the leg among the chains, 
trumpeted till evening with an arrow in his eye. 


SALAMMBO 


185 


Meanwhile the others, like conquerors who delight 
in the extermination of foes, were overthrowing, crush- 
ing, stamping, venting their fury on the corpses and on 
the wrecks. In order to repel them, the companies 
pressed around them in close circles, but they turned 
on their hind feet in a continual rotary movement, al- 
ways advancing. The Carthaginians felt a renewal of 
vigour, and the battle raged again. 

The Barbarians weakened ; some Greek hoplites 
threw away their weapons ; a panic seized the others. 
Spendius was seen leaning forward on his dromedary 
as he spurred it on the shoulders with two javelins. 
Then all made a dash toward the wings and ran in 
the direction of Utica. 

The Clinabarians, whose horses were exhausted, 
made no effort to overtake them. The Ligurians, over- 
come by thirst, screamed to be carried to the stream. 
But the Carthaginians, placed in the middle of the syn- 
tagmata, had suffered least, and stamped their feet 
with eagerness when they saw their vengeance escap- 
ing; already they were starting in pursuit of the Mer- 
cenaries, when Hamilcar appeared. 

He held in with silver reins his spotted horse, all 
covered with foam. The bandlets attached to the horns 
of his casque clattered in the wind behind him, and he 
had placed under his left thigh his oval shield. With 
a movement of his three-pointed pike he checked the 
army. 

The Tarentines sprang quickly upon their spare 
horses, and departed to the right and left toward the 
water and the city. 

The phalanx easily exterminated all the remaining 
Barbarians. When the swords came near, they closed 
their eyes and stretched out their throats. Others de- 
fended themselves to the death ; they were struck down 


186 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


from far off under a shower of stones, like mad dogs. 
Hamilcar had ordered his men to take prisoners ; but the 
Carthaginians obeyed him with rancour, as it gave 
them pleasure to plunge their swords into the Bar- 
barians’ bodies. As they got heated they set to work 
with naked arms like mowers, and when they stopped 
to take breath, they followed with their eyes across the 
country a horseman in pursuit of a runaway soldier. 
He would succeed in catching him by the hair and hold 
him thus some moments, then cut him down with a 
blow of his battle-axe. 

Night fell. The Carthaginians and Barbarians had 
disappeared. The elephants that had fled were roam- 
ing on the horizon, with their towers on fire, burning 
in the darkness here and there, like moving beacons, 
half lost in the mist; and no other movement was no- 
ticeable over the plain than the rippling of the stream 
swollen by the corpses which were drifting out to sea. 

Two hours later^ Matho arrived. By the starlight he 
caught sight of long unequal heaps lying upon the 
ground. They were files of Barbarians. He stooped 
down ; all were dead. He called afar ; not one voice 
replied. 

That same morning he had quitted Hippo-Zarytus 
with his soldiers to march on Carthage ; he reached 
Utica, to find that Spendius’s army had just left, and 
the inhabitants had begun to fire the war-machines. 
All had fought furiously. But the tumult that was 
raging in the direction of the bridge redoubled in an 
incomprehensible manner. Matho hurried by the short- 
est route across the mountain, but as the Barbarians 
were flying by the plain, he had met no one. 

Before him small pyramidal masses stood out in 
shadow, and nearer, on this side of the stream, were 


SALAMMBO 


187 


motionless lights level with the ground. In fact, the 
Carthaginians had fallen back behind the bridge, and 
to deceive the Barbarians, the Suffet had established 
numerous posts on the other bank. 

Matho continued to press forward, believing that he 
distinguished Punic ensigns, for horses’ heads which 
did not move appeared in the air fixed on the top of 
staves, thrust in invisible stacks of arms, and he heard 
in the distance a great uproar, the noise of songs and 
clinking of cups. 

Then, unable to find out where he was, or how to 
reach Spendius, and quite overcome by anguish, terri- 
fied and lost in the darkness, he impetuously retraced 
his steps by the same route. The dawn was breaking, 
when from the mountain height he saw the town, with 
the frames of the engines blackened by the flames and 
leaning like giant skeletons against the walls. 

All was hushed in an unusual silence and dejection. 
Amongst his soldiers on the edge of the tents slept men 
almost naked, stretched out on their backs, or with 
their foreheads on their arms, supported by their cuir- 
asses. Some of them were unfastening the bloody 
bandages from their legs. Those who were dying 
rolled their heads gently; others dragged themselves 
along to fetch their comrades a drink. Along the nar- 
row paths, sentinels patrolled to keep themselves warm, 
or stood, their faces turned savagely toward the hori- 
zon, and their pikes on their shoulders. 

Matho found Spendius sheltered under a piece of 
canvas that was hung from two poles driven into the 
ground, his knees between his hands, his head bent. 

They remained awhile without speaking. Finally 
Matho murmured : 

“ Vanquished ! ” 

Spendius replied in a sombre voice : 


188 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ Yes ; vanquished ! ” 

And to all questions he answered only by gestures of 
despair. 

Meanwhile, moans and death-rattles were heard on 
all sides. Matho partially opened the canvas. Then 
the sight of the soldiers reminded him of another dis- 
aster in the same place, and grinding his teeth, he ex- 
claimed : 

“Wretch! once already . . .” 

Spendius interrupted him : 

“ But you were not there, either ! ” 

“ It is a curse ! ” cried Matho. “ At last, neverthe- 
less, I shall reach him. I shall vanquish him! I shall 
slay him ! Ah, if I had only been there ! . . .” The 
idea of having missed the battle stung him to greater 
desperation than the defeat. He pulled off his sword 
and threw it to the ground. “ But how did the Car- 
thaginians defeat you ? ” 

The former slave recounted the manoeuvres. Matho 
felt that he saw them, and was exasperated. The army 
of Utica, instead of running toward the bridge, should 
have fallen upon Hamilcar in the rear. 

“ Alas ! I know it,” said Spendius. 

“ You ought to have doubled the depths of your 
ranks, not to have engaged the phalanx with the light 
troops, and have made way for the elephants. Up to 
the last moment you could have regained the field ; 
there was no need to retreat.” 

Spendius answered : 

“ I saw Hamilcar pass by in his large red mantle, his 
arms raised above the dust like an eagle flying on the 
flanks of the cohorts, and at every gesture of his head 
they closed in or extended their ranks; the multitude 
drew us the one toward the other; he was looking at 
me ; I felt in my heart a cold steel ! ” 


SALAMMBO 


189 


“ Perhaps he chose the day ? Matho said in an un- 
dertone to himself. 

They questioned each other, trying to fathom what 
had brought the Suffet at the most untoward juncture. 
They talked of the situation, and to extenuate his fault, 
or reimbue himself with courage, Spendius declared 
that there was still some hope. 

“ And if there were none it would be of no conse- 
quence,” retorted Matho. “ All alone I should con- 
tinue the war ! ” 

“ And I, also ! ” cried the Greek. Bounding to his 
feet, he walked with long strides, his eyes flashing, and 
a strange smile wrinkled his jackal face. 

“ We will make a new start ; do not leave me again ! 
I am not made for battles in the daylight ; the flash of 
swords troubles my vision ; it is a malady ; I lived too 
long in the ergastulum. But give me walls to scale 
at night, and I will penetrate to the citadels, and the 
corpses shall be cold before cock-crow ! Show me 
some one — something — an enemy, a treasure, a wo- 
man,” he repeated — “ a woman, be she the daughter of 
a king, and I will quickly bring your desire to your 
feet. You reproach me for having lost the battle 
against Hanno ; nevertheless it was I who regained it — 
confess it ! My drove of swine did better service than 
a phalanx of Spartans.” And yielding to the desire to 
extol himself and take his revenge, he enumerated all 
that he had done for the cause of the Mercenaries. 

“ It was I, in the gardens of the Suffet, who incited 
the Gauls! Later at Sicca I maddened them all with 
fear of the Republic; Gisco was about to send the in- 
terpreters back, but I did not choose that they should 
be able to speak. Ah, how their tongues hung out of 
their mouths ! Do you remember ? I led you to Car- 
thage ; I stole the Za'imph ; I guided you to her ; I will 


190 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


do still more ; you shall see ! ” He burst into laughter 
like a madman. 

Matho looked at him with wide open eyes. He ex- 
perienced a sort of embarrassment before this man, 
who was at once so cowardly and so terrible. 

The Greek resumed in a jovial tone, snapping his 
fingers : 

“By Bacchus! After the rain the sun! I have 
worked in the quarries, and I have drunk Massic wine, 
in a ship which I owned, beneath a golden canopy like 
a Ptolemy. Misfortune ought to render us more capa- 
ble. By force of toil one bends fortune. She loves the 
crafty ; she will yield ! ” 

He went over to Matho and took him by the arm. 

“ Master, at present the Carthaginians are sure of 
their victory. You have a whole army which has not 
been in combat, and your men obey you! Place them 
in the front. Be certain that my men, for vengeance’s 
sake, will follow. I have yet remaining three thousand 
Carians, twelve hundred slingers and archers, complete 
cohorts! We might even form a phalanx: let us re- 
turn ! ” 

Matho, stunned by the disaster, until now had 
thought of no way of regaining what had been lost. 
He listened with open mouth; the bronze plates en- 
circling his sides rose and fell with the throbbing of his 
heart. He picked up his sword and cried out : 

“ Follow me ! We will march ! ” 

But the scouts, when they returned, reported that the 
Carthaginian dead had been carried away, the bridge 
was in ruins, and Hamilcar was nowhere to be seen. 


SALAMMBO 


191 


CHAPTER IX 

THE CAMPAIGN 

T HINKING that the Mercenaries would await him 
at Utica, or might return against him, Hamil- 
car, knowing that his army was not strong 
enough to deliver or receive an attack, had gone 
southward of the right bank of the river, which pro- 
tected him from the danger of a surprise. 

From the first, shutting his eyes to their revolt, he 
wished to detach all the tribes from the cause of the 
Barbarians ; then, when they should be safely isolated 
in the middle of the provinces, he would fall upon and 
exterminate them. 

In fourteen days he pacified the region comprised 
between Thouccaber and Utica, with the towns of Tig- 
nicabah, Tessourah, Vacca, and others to the west. 
Zounghar, built in the mountains, Assouras, celebrated 
for its temple, Djeraado, fruitful in juniper-trees, Tha- 
pitis, and Hagour sent ambassadors to him. 

The country people came laden with provisions, im- 
ploring his protection, kissing his feet and the feet of 
his soldiers, and uttering bitter complaints against the 
Barbarians. Some offered in sacks the decapitated 
heads of Mercenaries whom they claimed to have 
killed, but which in fact they had cut from the corpses 
that they found, as numberless soldiers were lost in the 
retreat, and were afterward picked up dead in differ- 
ent places, some under the olive trees, others in the 
vineyards. 

To dazzle the people, Hamilcar, the day after his 
victory, sent to Carthage the two thousand captives 


192 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


taken on the battle-field. They arrived in long com- 
panies, each consisting of a hundred men, their arms 
fastened behind their backs by a bronze bar which 
caught them at the nape of their necks ; even the 
wounded, yet bleeding, were forced to run, driven 
along by cuts from the whips of the horsemen riding 
behind them. 

There was a delirium of joy! It was reported that 
six thousand Barbarians had been killed, the others 
could not hold out, and that the war was over. People 
embraced one another in the streets, and rubbed butter 
and cinnamon on the faces of the Dii-Pat<zci, to ex- 
press their thankfulness. These gods, with their big 
eyes and their gross bellies, with their arms raised to 
their shoulders, seemed under the access of fresh paint 
to be alive, and to participate in the happiness of the 
people. 

The Rich left their doors open ; the city resounded 
with the beating of tambourines ; the temples were il- 
luminated nightly, and the handmaidens of the goddess 
descended to Malqua, and established at the cross- 
roads tressels of sycamore where they prostituted them- 
selves. Lands were voted to the conquerors; holo- 
causts to Melkarth ; three hundred golden crowns to 
the Sufifet, and his partisans suggested that new pre- 
rogatives and fresh honours be given to him. 

Hamilcar had solicited the Elders to make overtures 
to Autharitus, offering to exchange all the Barbarian 
prisoners, if necessary, for the aged Gisco and the other 
Carthaginians taken by him. The Libyans and the 
Nomads who composed Autharitus’s army scarcely 
knew the Mercenaries, who were men of Italiote or 
Greek race; and inasmuch as the Republic offered so 
many Barbarians in exchange for so few Carthagin- 
ians, they decided that it must be because the Barbarian 


SALAMMBO 


193 


captives possessed no value, in proportion to the others. 
They feared a trap. Autharitus refused. 

Forthwith the Elders issued a decree for the execu- 
tion of their prisoners, although the Suffet had written 
that they were not to be put to death, as he had planned 
to incorporate the best with his own troops, hoping by 
this step to encourage defection. But hatred swept 
away all prudence. 

The two thousand Barbarians were fastened against 
the stelas of the tombs in the Mappals ; then the ped- 
lars, kitchen scrubs, embroiderers, and even women, 
the widows of the dead warriors, with their children, 
joined by all who cared, came to kill them with arrows. 
In order to prolong their agony they slowly took de- 
liberate aim. Each lowered his weapon, and raised it 
again by turns. The multitude crowded forward, hoot- 
ing and howling. 

The paralytics had themselves brought on stretchers ; 
many prudently came with provisions and stayed till 
evening; others passed the night there. Drinking 
booths had been set up. Many gained large sums by 
hiring out their bows. 

The crucified bodies were allowed to stand, appear- 
ing like so many red statues on the tombs ; and the ex- 
ultation reached even as far as the people of Malqua, 
descendants of the aboriginal tribes, who ordinarily 
were indifferent to events in the Republic. Out of 
gratitude for the present pleasure afforded to them by 
the government, they were now concerned in her for- 
tunes, feeling themselves to be Punic; and the Elders 
considered it shrewd thus to have merged the entire 
people in the same vengeance. 

The sanction of the gods was not wanting, for from 
every quarter of the sky ravens descended, beating 
their wings as they circled in the air, with loud, hoarse 


194 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


croaks, and making an enormous cloud which continu- 
ally wheeled over itself. It was visible from Clypea, 
from Rhades, and from the promontory of Hermiseum. 
Sometimes this mass would suddenly rift, widening 
afar its black spirals, as an eagle would swoop into the 
middle, and then soar away. On the terraces, on the 
domes, on the points of the obelisks, and on the pedi- 
ments of the temples, here and there, big birds were 
perched holding in their reddened beaks fragments of 
human flesh. 

In consequence of the odour the Carthaginians re- 
signed themselves to the release of the bodies. Some 
were burned, others were thrown into the sea, and, 
driven by the north wind on the waves, were washed 
upon the beach at the end of the gulf before the camp 
of Autharitus. 

This revenge had doubtless terrified the Barbarians ; 
as from the roof of Eschmoun they could be seen 
hastily pulling up their tents, rounding up their herds, 
and packing the baggage upon the asses, so that by the 
evening of the same day the entire army had with- 
drawn. 

It was intended, by marching and countermarching 
between the Hot Springs Mountain and Hippo-Zary- 
tus, to prevent the Suffet approaching the Tyrian cities, 
and thus returning to Carthage. 

In the meantime the two other armies endeavoured 
to reach him in the south, Spendius by the east, Matho 
by the west, so as to unite the three armies and then 
surprise and entrap him. An unlooked-for reenforce- 
ment astonished them, for Narr’ Havas reappeared 
with three hundred camels laden with bitumen, twenty- 
five elephants, and six thousand horsemen. 

To weaken the Mercenaries the Suffet had deemed 


SALAMMBO 


195 


it well to give Narr’ Havas enough to keep him busy in 
his own distant kingdom. From the heart of Carthage 
he had to come to an understanding with Masgaba, a 
Getulian brigand who sought to make a realm for him- 
self. Supported with Carthaginian silver, the adven- 
turer had stirred the Numidian states to revolt, by 
promises of freedom. But Narr’ Havas, warned by the 
son of his nurse, had surprised Cirta, poisoned the con- 
querors with the water in the cisterns, struck off some 
heads, and set everything in order : and he now re- 
turned more furious than the Barbarians against the 
Suffet. 

The chiefs of the four armies agreed as to the con- 
duct of the war. As it would be long, it was necessary 
to provide against every contingency. 

It was agreed first to ask the assistance of the Ro- 
mans, and this mission was offered to Spendius ; but as 
a fugitive he did not dare to take charge of it, there- 
fore twelve men from Greek colonies were selected to 
execute it, and embarked on a Numidian shallop at 
Annaba. 

Then the chiefs exacted from all of the Barbarians 
an oath of absolute obedience. Each day the captains 
inspected the clothing and shoes; even the use of 
shields was forbidden to the sentinels, for they often 
had been found to prop them against their lances and 
thus sleep whilst standing upright. Those who dragged 
about any baggage were ordered to get rid of it ; every- 
thing, according to Roman custom, must be carried on 
the back. As a precaution against the elephants Matho 
instituted a corps of panoplied cavalry, in which both 
man and horse were concealed under a cuirass of hip- 
popotamus hide bristling with nails; and to protect the 
horses’ hoofs, they wore shoes of plaited esparto-grass. 

It was forbidden to pillage the villages, or to tyrannise 


196 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


over the inhabitants of non-Punic race. As the coun- 
try was becoming exhausted, Matho ordered the dis- 
tribution of rations to the soldiers individually, with- 
out heeding the women ; at first the men shared with 
them, and from lack of sufficient food, many became 
weak. It was the occasion of incessant quarrels and 
invectives, many attracting the companions of others 
by bribes, or even by the promise of their rations. See- 
ing this, Matho commanded that all the women should 
be driven away without pity. They took refuge in the 
camp of Autharitus ; but the women of the Gauls and 
Libyans, by force of outrages, compelled them to leave. 

At length they arrived under the walls of Carthage, 
imploring the protection of Ceres and of Proserpine ; 
for there was in Byrsa a temple and priests, conse- 
crated to these goddesses, in expiation of the horrors 
committed formerly during the siege of Syracuse. The 
Syssites, alleging their right to all strays, claimed the 
youngest to sell ; and the New-Carthaginians took some 
of the blonde Lacsedemonian women in marriage. 

Others of the women persistently followed the ar- 
mies. They ran on the flank of the syntagmata beside 
the captains. They called to their men, and pulled them 
by their cloaks, struck themselves on their breasts as 
they uttered curses, and held out at arm’s length their 
crying naked little babies. This sight weakened the 
hearts of the Barbarians ; the women were obviously a 
hindrance, a peril even. Frequently they were rudely 
pushed back, but they would obstinately return. Matho 
ordered the cavalry of Narr’ Havas to charge them 
with their lances, and when the Balearic warriors cried 
out to him that they must have women — “ But I, my- 
self have none ! ” he replied. 

The genius of Moloch possessed him. Despite the 
rebellion of his conscience, he executed frightful deeds. 


SALAMMBO 


197 


and imagined that in so doing he obeyed the voice of a 
god. When he could not ravage the fields, he threw 
stones into them to render them unfruitful. 

By continual messages he pressed Autharitus and 
Spendius to hasten on. But the operations of the Suf- 
fet were incomprehensible. He encamped successively 
at Eidous, at Monchar, at Tehent; the scouts believed 
that they espied him in the direction of Ischiil, near the 
frontier of Narr’ Havas’s dominion ; and it was ru- 
moured that he had crossed the stream above Tebour- 
ba, as if to return to Carthage. Scarcely was he in one 
place, when he moved to another. The routes that he 
followed always remained unknown. Without giving 
battle, the Suffet held his advantages ; while pursued 
by the Barbarians, he seemed to lead them on. 

These marches and counter-marches fatigued the 
Carthaginians yet more ; and Hamilcar’s forces, not 
being renewed, day by day diminished. The people 
from the country brought provisions to him more re- 
luctantly. Everywhere he met a hesitation, a taciturn 
hatred ; and in spite of his supplications to the Grand 
Council no help came from Carthage. 

Some said — and perhaps believed — that he did not 
require succour. It was a ruse, or a useless complaint, 
and Hanno’s partisans, in order to do an ill office to 
Hamilcar, exaggerated the extent of his victory. The 
troops that he had they were content to sacrifice, but 
they were not going to supply continually all his de- 
mands. The war was quite expensive enough ! it had 
cost too much; and, actuated by pride, the patricians 
of his faction supported him half-heartedly. 

Then, despairing of the Republic, Hamilcar levied 
by force on the tribes for all that was needed for the 
war : grain, oil, wood, animals, and men. At these de- 
mands the inhabitants were not long in taking to flight. 


198 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


The villages that he ’traversed were deserted, cabins 
were ransacked without anything being found, and 
soon a frightful solitude encompassed the Punic army. 

The Carthaginians were furious ; they pillaged the 
provinces, filled up the cisterns, burned the houses, the 
sparks setting fire to entire forests, bordering the val- 
leys with a crown of flames : to pass beyond, the troops 
were compelled to wait until they subsided. Then they 
resumed their march under the full sun, over the hot 
ashes. 

Sometimes they saw by the roadside lurid gleams in 
the bushes like the eyes of a tiger-cat. This would be 
a Barbarian crouching on his haunches, daubed with 
dust that he might blend with the colour of the foliage ; 
or when they went along a ravine, those who were on 
the wings would suddenly hear stones rolling, and, 
lifting their eyes, would perceive in the opening of the 
gorge a bare-footed man fleetly bounding by. 

Inasmuch as the Mercenaries did not besiege them 
again, Utica and Hippo-Zarytus were free. Hamilcar 
commanded them to come to his aid. Not caring to 
compromise themselves, they replied by vague words, 
compliments, and excuses. 

He abruptly marched northward, determined to ob- 
tain possession of one of the Tyrian towns, even if he 
had to besiege it. It was necessary for him to have a 
station on the coast in order to draw from the islands, 
or from Cyrene, supplies and soldiers, and he coveted 
the port of Utica as being the nearest to Carthage. 

The Suffet accordingly left Zouitin, and cautiously 
skirted the lake of Hippo-Zarytus. But soon he was 
obliged to extend his regiments in a column, to climb 
up the mountain separating the two valleys. At sun- 
set they descended into its summit, hollowed out like a 
funnel ; suddenly they perceived before them, level with 


SALAMMBO 


199 


the ground, bronze she-wolves, which appeared to be 
running over the grass. 

Then large plumes of feathers rose into view ; and 
to the rhythm of flutes a formidable chant burst forth. 
It was the army commanded by Spendius : for the 
Campanians and Greeks, in their abhorrence of Car- 
thage, had adopted Roman ensigns. At the same time 
on the left appeared long pikes, shields of leopard’s 
skin, linen cuirasses, and naked shoulders. They were 
Matho’s Iberians, Lusitanians, Balearics, and Getuli- 
ans ; the neighing of the horses of Narr’ Havas was 
heard : they spread around the hill. Then came the ir- 
regular mob commanded by Autharitus, made up of 
Gauls, Libyans, and Nomads ; and in their midst the 
Eaters-of-Unclean-Things could be recognised by the 
fishbones they wore in their hair. 

Thus the Barbarians had so exactly regulated their 
marches that they came together simultaneously. But, 
surprised themselves, they halted for some minutes 
motionless, and consulted. 

The Suflfet had collected his men in an orbicular 
mass, which offered on every side equal resistance. 
Their high-pointed shields, stuck in the turf one against 
another, surrounded the infantry. The Clinabarians 
remained outside ; and further off, at intervals, the ele- 
phants were stationed. The Mercenaries were ex- 
hausted with fatigue: it would be better to wait until 
the following day ; and, sure of their victory, the Bar- 
barians occupied themselves during the entire night in 
eating. 

They lighted immense bright fires, which while daz- 
zling them, left the Punic army beneath them in the 
shade. Hamilcar caused a trench to be excavated Ro- 
man fashion around his encampment, fifteen feet wide 
and ten cubits deep; and a parapet to be massed up 


200 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


with the earth thus dug out, on which were planted in- 
terlacing sharp stakes. At sunrise the Mercenaries 
were amazed to behold the Carthaginians thus en- 
trenched as in a fortress. 

They recognised Hamilcar in the midst of the tents 
walking about giving orders. His body was encased 
in a brown cuirass fashioned of small scales. He was 
followed by his horse, and from time to time he 
stopped, extending his right arm to point out some- 
thing. 

Then more than one recalled similar mornings when 
amid the din of clarions he had passed slowly before 
them, and how his looks had fortified them as cups of 
wine. A sort of emotion seized them. Those, on the 
contrary, who did not know Hamilcar, were delirious 
with joy at having caught him. 

Still, if all attacked at the same time they would in- 
flict mutual damage in the narrow space. The Nu- 
midians might charge across, but the Clinabarians, pro- 
tected by their cuirasses, would crush them ; then how 
could they pass the palisades? As for the elephants, 
they were not sufficiently trained. 

“ You are all cowards ! ” cried Matho. 

And with picked troops he dashed against the en- 
trenchments. A volley of stones repulsed them, for 
the Suffet had taken on the bridge their abandoned 
catapults. 

This defeat abruptly turned the unstable spirit of 
the Barbarians. Their excessive bravado disappeared ; 
they wished to conquer, but with the smallest possible 
risk. According to Spendius, they should carefully 
guard the position they had secured, and starve out the 
Punic army. But the Carthaginians began to dig wells, 
and as mountains surrounded the hill they discovered 
water. 


SALAMMBO 


201 


From the summit of their palisade they fired arrows, 
hurled earth, dung, and stones, which they picked up 
from the ground ; whilst the six catapults were wheeled 
constantly the length of the entrenchment. 

But the springs would naturally dry up, the provi- 
sions would not last, the catapults would wear out ; the 
Mercenaries were ten times their number, and would 
certainly triumph in the end. As a subterfuge to gain 
time, the Suffet opened negotiations, and one morning 
the Barbarians found within their lines a sheep-skin 
covered with writing. He justified himself for his vic- 
tory : the Elders had forced him into the war ; and, to 
show them that he kept his word, he now offered to 
them the plunder of Utica or Hippo-Zarytus, whichever 
they chose. Hamilcar, in conclusion, declared that he 
did not fear them, because he had won over some 
traitors, and with their help he would easily make an 
end of them all. 

The Barbarians were troubled ; this offer of immedi- 
ate booty made them ponder ; they feared treason, not 
suspecting a snare in the boasting of the Suffet; and 
they began to regard each other with distrust. Every 
word was observed, every movement watched ; and at 
night terrors kept them awake. Many left their com- 
rades, following their personal fancy in choosing the 
army to which they attached themselves : and the Gauls 
with Autharitus joined the men of the Cisalpine prov- 
ince, whose language they understood. 

The four chiefs conferred every night in Matho’s 
tent, and, squatting around a shield, they moved for- 
ward and backward attentively the little wooden dum- 
mies, invented by Pyrrhus for representing military 
manoeuvres. Spendius would show the resources of 
Hamilcar, entreating them by all the gods not to throw 
away this opportunity. Matho in vexation walked 


202 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


about gesticulating. For him the war against Carthage 
was a personal affair, and he felt indignant that the 
others interfered without being willing to obey him. 
Autharitus divined his words from his face, and ap- 
plauded. Narr’ Havas raised his chin as a sign of dis- 
dain ; not one measure was offered but he judged it 
fatal. Matho smiled no more : sighs escaped him as if 
he had forced back the anguish of an impossible dream, 
the despair of an unattainable enterprise. 

While the Barbarians deliberated in their uncertain- 
ty, the Suffet increased his defences, dug a second 
trench on the inside of the palisades, erected a second 
wall, and constructed wooden towers at the corners; 
his slaves went to the middle of the advance-posts to 
bury caltrops in the ground. But the elephants, whose 
allowances were lessened, struggled in their shackles. 
To economise the fodder, he ordered the Clinabarians 
to kill the weakest of the stallions. Some of the men 
refused to comply, and were at once beheaded. The 
horses were eaten. The memory of this fresh meat was 
a great sorrow in the days that followed. 

From the bottom of the amphitheatre, where the Pu- 
nic army was confined, they saw all around them on 
the heights the four busy Barbarian camps. Women 
moved about balancing leathern bottles on their heads ; 
goats wandered bleating under the stacks of pikes ; the 
sentinels were going on or off duty, and men were eat- 
ing around the tripods. In fact, the various tribes fur- 
nished them with abundant supplies, and they had no 
idea how greatly their inaction disturbed the Punic 
army. 

From the second day, the Carthaginians had re- 
marked in the camp of the Nomads a troop of three 
hundred men remote from the others. They were the 
Rich, held as prisoners since the beginning of the war. 


SALAMMBO 


203 


The Libyans ranged them on the edge of the ditch, 
and, posted behind them, threw javelins, while making a 
rampart of their bodies. Scarcely could these wretched 
creatures be recognised, to such a degree were their 
faces disfigured by vermin and filth. Their hair had 
been pulled out in spots, leaving bare ulcers on their 
scalps ; and they were so thin and hideous that they re- 
sembled mummies in tattered shrouds. Some trembled 
and sobbed in a stupid manner ; others screamed out to 
their friends to fire upon the Barbarians. 

There was one among the prisoners perfectly mo- 
tionless, with head bent, and speaking no word ; his 
flowing white beard reached to his hands, which were 
covered with chains. The Carthaginians felt from the 
depths of their hearts the downfall of the Republic as 
they recognised Gisco. Though the place was danger- 
ous they crowded to see him. Some one had placed on 
his head a grotesque tiara, made of hippopotamus-skin 
studded over with pebbles. This had been a fancy of 
Autharitus that was thoroughly displeasing to Matho. 

Hamilcar was infuriated, and ordered the palisades 
to be opened, determined to cut a way at any cost, and 
in a mad rush the Carthaginians charged half-way up, 
about three hundred paces. Such a torrent of Bar- 
barians poured down that they were driven back on 
their own lines. 

One of the guards of the Legion was left outside, 
having stumbled over the stones. Zarxas ran up, 
knocked him down, and plunged his dagger into his 
throat ; he drew out the weapon and threw himself 
upon the wound — gluing his lips to it with ejaculations 
of delight and wild starts that shook him to his very 
heels, he sucked the blood in deep draughts, then calm- 
ly sat on the body with face uplifted, holding his head 
back to inhale the air, like a hind that has just drunk 


204 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


from a torrent. He struck up in a shrill voice a Bale- 
aric song, a vague melody, full of prolonged modula- 
tions, breaking off and replying to himself, like echoes 
answering echoes in the mountains ; he called upon his 
dead brothers and invited them to a feast ; then, he let 
his hands fall listlessly between his knees, slowly bent 
his head and wept. This atrocity filled the Barbarians, 
and especially the Greeks, with horror. 

From this time the Carthaginians made no, sortie; 
but they had no thought of surrender, knowing that 
they would perish under tortures. 

Meanwhile, despite Hamilcar’s care, the provisions 
decreased frightfully. For each man there remained 
not more than ten k’hommer of corn, three hin of mil- 
let, and twelve betza of dried fruits. No more meat, 
oil, or salt provisions, not one grain of barley for the 
horses; they could be seen bending down their emaci- 
ated necks to seek in the dust for trampled bits of 
straw. 

Often the sentinels patrolling the terrace would see 
in the moonlight a dog belonging to the Barbarians 
prowling below the entrenchments in heaps of filth. 
They would fell it with a stone, and then, by the aid of 
straps of a shield, lower themselves down the length of 
the palisade, and without a word devour it. Occasion- 
ally a horrible baying would be heard, and the venture- 
some never returned. In the fourth dilochia of the 
twelfth syntagma, three phalangites quarrelling about 
a rat killed each other with blows of their knives. 

All longed for their families and their homes : the 
poor for their cabins shaped like bee-hives with shells 
placed at the thresholds, and a net suspended outside ; 
and .the patricians for their grand halls full of bluish 
shadows, wherein, during the warmest hour of the day, 
they sought repose, listening to the indistinct voices in 


SALAMMBO 


205 


the street, mingled with the rustling of leaves in their 
gardens, stirred by the breeze ; and, to better enter into 
these reveries, and thoroughly enjoy them, they half- 
closed their eyelids until the shock of a wound would 
awake them. 

Every moment there was some engagement, some 
new alarm ; the towers blazed, the Eaters-of-Unclean- 
Things leaped upon the palisades — their hands were 
chopped off with axes ; others ran up ; a hail of iron fell 
upon the tents. Galleries of reed hurdles were erected 
to protect them from the projectiles. The Carthagin- 
ians shut themselves up and went out no more. 

Each day the sun in its course deserted from the 
early hours the depth of the gorge and left them in 
shadow. In front and behind rose the grey slopes of 
earth, covered with stones spotted with scanty lichens, 
and over their head the sky, always cloudless, spread 
out more steely cold to the eye than a metal cupola. 
Hamilcar was so indignant against Carthage that he 
felt strongly disposed to join the Barbarians and lead 
them against her. Besides, now, even the porters, the 
sutlers, and slaves began to murmur; and neither the 
people, the Grand Council, nor anyone sent a word of 
hope. The situation was unbearable, and especially so 
because of the fear that it would become worse. 

At the news of the disaster Carthage throbbed with 
anger and hatred; the citizens perhaps would have 
execrated the Suffet less if early in the war he had al- 
lowed himself to be vanquished. . 

But to hire other Mercenaries there was neither time 
nor money. As for recruiting soldiers in the town, how 
could they equip them? Hamilcar had already taken 
all the weapons! And who would command new 
troops ? The best captains were with him. Meanwhile, 


206 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


messengers despatched by the Suffet arrived in the 
streets and cried out for help. The Grand Council was 
disturbed, and made arrangements for their disappear- 
ance. 

This was an unnecessary precaution: all accused 
Barca for having acted with too much leniency. He 
should have annihilated the Mercenaries after his vic- 
tory. Why had he ravished the tribes? They already 
had imposed on themselves sacrifices enough! And 
the patricians repented their contribution of fourteen 
shekels, the Syssites theirs of two hundred and twenty- 
three thousand kikar of gold, and those who had given 
nothing lamented as bitterly as the others. 

The populace was jealous of the new Carthaginians, 
to whom Hamilcar had promised the complete rights of 
the city ; and even the Ligurians, who had fought so 
bravely, were confounded with the Barbarians, and 
like them were cursed ; their race became a crime, the 
sign of complicity. The shop-keepers on the door-sills 
of their shops, journeymen who walked about with 
their leaden rules in their hands, pedlars of pickle rins- 
ing their baskets, bath-men in the vapour baths, and the 
vendors of hot drinks, all discussed the management 
of the campaign. They traced in the dust with their 
fingers the plans of battle ; and there was not a vaga- 
bond so low that he could not correct Hamilcar’s mili- 
tary errors. 

The priests averred that all his misfortunes were a 
punishment for his long impiety. He had offered no 
holocausts, he had not purified his troops, he had even 
refused to take augurs with him; and the scandal of 
the sacrilege intensified the violence of restrained ha- 
treds, the rage of hopes betrayed. They recalled the 
disaster of Sicily, and all the burden of his pride that 
they had borne so long. The colleges of pontiffs could 


SALAMMBO 


207 


not pardon him for seizing their treasure, and they ex- 
acted from the Grand Council a pledge to crucify him 
should he ever return. 

This year the heat of the month of Eloul, which was 
most excessive, was another calamity. From the lake 
shore nauseous odours arose and were diffused through 
the atmosphere with the smoke of the spices circling 
up at the street corners. Hymns constantly resounded. 
Streams of people crowded the stairways to the tem- 
ples; the walls were draped with black veils; tapers 
burned constantly in front of the Dii-P atari; and the 
blood of the camels slaughtered as sacrifices ran along 
the flights of steps, forming red cascades. 

Carthage was stirred with a funereal delirium. From 
the extremity of the narrowest alleys, and from the 
blackest dens, pale faces appeared — men with profiles 
like vipers, who ground their teeth. The shrill screams 
of women filled the dwellings, and escaping through 
the lattices, made those who stood chatting about the 
squares turn around. Sometimes it was believed that 
the Barbarians were coming: they had been seen be- 
hind the Hot-Springs Mountain. Then it was ru- 
moured that they were encamped at Tunis. And the 
voices multiplied, swelling till they were merged in one 
confusing clamour. Then a universal silence would 
reign. Some of the people remained clinging to the 
pediments of the edifices with one hand shielding their 
eyes, while others, lying flat at the foot of the ramparts, 
strained their ears. The fear having passed, their fury 
broke out afresh. But the knowledge of their power- 
lessness soon threw them back into the same profound 
sadness. 

It redoubled every evening, when all, ascending the 
terraces, uttered, while bowing nine times, a vast cry 
of salutation to the sun, as it sank slowly behind the 


208 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Lagoon, then suddenly disappeared in the mountains 
in the direction of the Barbarians. 

They were anticipating the thrice holy feast, when 
from the top of a pyre an eagle soared toward the sky — 
a symbol of the resurrection of the year, a message from 
the people to its supreme Baal which they regarded as 
a kind of union, a means of attaching themselves to the 
majesty of the Sun. 

Filled as they were with hatred, the people naturally 
turned toward Moloch, the Man-Slayer, and all de- 
serted Tanit. In effect, the Rabbetna, no longer pos- 
sessing her veil, was despoiled of a part of her power. 
She refused the blessing of her waters. She had for- 
saken Carthage ; she was a deserter, an enemy. Some, 
to insult her, threw stones at her. But even while 
cursing many pitied her. She was still cherished, and 
perhaps more intensely than ever. 

All their misfortunes came from the rape of the Za- 
imph. Salammbo had indirectly participated in this 
crime ; therefore she was included in the same bitter- 
ness ; she must be punished. The vague idea of an im- 
molation, quickly circulated amongst the people. To 
appease the Baalim, undoubtedly they must offer some- 
thing of incalculable value — a beautiful being, young, 
a virgin of an ancient family, descended from the gods 
— a human Star. 

Daily strange men invaded the gardens of Megara, 
and the slaves, fearing for themselves, did not dare re- 
sist them. However, they did not pass on to the stair- 
way of the galleys, but always stopped below with eyes 
raised to the last terrace; they waited for Salammbo, 
and for hours cried out against her, like dogs baying 
at the moon. 


SALAMMBO 


209 


CHAPTER X 

THE SERPENT 

T HE daughter of Hamilcar was not alarmed by 
the clamourings of the populace ; she was 
troubled by loftier anxieties — for her great 
serpent, the black Python, was failing : and for the 
Carthaginians a serpent was not only a national but 
a personal fetich. They believed every serpent to be 
an offspring of the slime of the earth, inasmuch as it 
emerged from the depths, and needed no feet to walk 
upon ; its movements were as the undulations of 
streams ; its temperature was ancient darkness, clammy 
and fecund ; and the orb that it described when biting 
its tail, the complete planetary system, the intelligence 
of Eschmoun. 

Salammbo’s serpent had many times of late refused 
the four living sparrows offered to it at the new and 
full of each moon. Its beautiful skin, covered like 
the firmament with spots of gold on a dead black sur- 
face, was now yellow, flabby, wrinkled, and too large 
for its body ; over its head was spreading a downy 
mould; and in the corners of its eyes appeared little 
red spots that seemed to move. 

Salammbo repeatedly drew near to its silver filigree 
basket, and drew aside the purple curtain, the lotus 
leaves and bird’s down — but it was continually coiled 
upon itself, stiller than a withered vine. As a result 
of her intense observation she ended by feeling in her 
heart a spiral like another serpent, which was gradu- 
ally rising up to her throat and strangling her. 

She was in despair at having seen the Zaimph ; and 


210 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


yet she felt a sort of joy, a peculiar pride. A mystery 
eluded her in the splendour of its folds; it was the 
mist surrounding the gods, the secret of universal ex- 
istence; and Salammbo, while horrified at herself, re- 
gretted that she had not raised it. 

Almost always she was crouching on the floor of 
her apartment, her hands clasped around her left knee, 
her mouth half open, chin sunken, and eyes fixed. She 
recalled with terror her father’s face. She longed to 
make a pilgrimage in the mountains of Phoenicia, to 
the temple of Aphaka, where Tanit had descended 
in the form of a star. All manner of imaginations 
allured and alarmed her ; besides, each day a greater 
solitude environed her. She did not even know what 
had become of Hamilcar. 

Wearied of her thoughts, she would rise ; and the 
soles of her tiny sandals would clatter against her heels 
at every step as she walked at random in the large, 
silent room. The amethysts and topazes in the ceiling 
quivered here and there in luminous points, and Sa- 
lammbo, as she walked, turned her head slightly to 
view them. She took the suspended amphoras by their 
necks; she refreshed herself under the broad fans, or 
amused herself by burning cinnamon in hollowed 
pearls. 

At sunset Taanach would draw back the lozenges 
of black felt which closed the openings in the wall ; 
then Salammbo’s doves, rubbed with musk like the 
doves of Tanit, flew into her presence, and their 
pink feet slipped over the glass pavement in the midst 
of the grains of barley which Salammbo scattered to 
them in handfuls, like a sower in a field. But in a mo- 
ment she would burst out in sobs, and remain ex- 
tended full length on the great couch of cow-hide 
straps, motionless, repeating one word, always the 


SALAMMBO 


211 


same, with wide-open eyes, pale as death, insensible, 
cold ; and yet she could hear the cries of the apes in 
the clumps of palm trees, and the continuous grinding 
of the great wheel raising through the stories a stream 
of pure water up into the porphyry basin. 

Sometimes for many days she refused to eat. She 
dreamed that she saw dim stars passing beneath her 
feet. She would summon Schahabarim; and when he 
came she had nothing to say to him. 

She could not live without the comfort of his pres- 
ence ; but her spirit rebelled against this domination; 
she felt for the priest, at the same time, terror, jeal- 
ousy, hatred, and an emotion akin to love, in recog- 
nition of the sensuous delight she experienced when- 
ever she found herself near to him. 

He had recognised the influence of Rabbet, skilled 
as he was to distinguish the gods who sent illnesses; 
and to cure Salammbo he had her room sprinkled with 
lotions of vervain and maidenhair, and ordered that 
she should eat mandrake every morning, and sleep 
with her head on a sachet of aromatics mixed by the 
pontiffs. He had even employed hazelwort, a fiery- 
coloured root, by which fatal spirits are driven back 
in the north. Finally, he turned toward the polar 
star, and murmured thrice the mysterious name of 
Tanit. But Salammbo continued to suffer, and her 
anguish deepened. 

No one in Carthage was as learned as this priest. 
In his youth he had studied in the college of the 
Mogbeds at Borsippa, near Babylon ; then had visited 
Samothrace, Pessinus, Ephesus, Thessaly, Judea, and 
the temples of the Nabathseans, which are lost in the 
sands ; and he had traversed on foot the banks of the 
Nile, from the cataracts to the sea. His face covered 
with a veil, and waving torches, he had cast a black 


212 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


cock on a fire of sandarack before the breast of the 
Sphinx Father-of-the-Terror. He had descended into 
the caverns of Proserpine ; he had witnessed the five 
hundred columns of Lemnos revolve, and had seen the 
brightness of the candelabrum of Tarentum, which 
carried on its standard as many sconces as there are 
days in the year. 

Sometimes at night he would receive Greeks to 
question them. The constitution of the world con- 
cerned him no less than the nature of the gods ; with 
the armillary placed in the portico of Alexandria he 
had observed the equinoxes, and accompanied as far 
as Cyrene the bematists of Euergates, who measured 
the heavens by calculating the number of their paces. 
So now there was growing up in his thoughts a sub- 
jective religion, with no defined formula, and for this 
very reason full of ecstasies and fervour. 

He no longer believed that the earth was shaped like 
a pine-cone; he believed it to be round, and eternally 
falling in space with such prodigious velocity that no 
one could perceive its fall. 

From the position of the sun above the moon, he 
judged that Baal was supreme; the orb was only his 
reflection and visage. Moreover, all terrestrial things 
which he then saw forced him to recognise as su- 
preme the male exterminating principle. Then he 
secretly held Rabbet responsible for the misfortune of 
his life. Was it not for her that the grand pontiff had 
advanced amid a tumult of cymbals and taken his fu- 
ture virility? And he followed with a melancholy 
gaze the men who abandoned themselves to pleasures 
with priestesses in the depths of the turpentine groves. 

His days were spent in inspecting the censers and 
gold vases, tongs and rakes used for the ashes of the 
altar, and all the robes of the statues, even to the 


SALAMMBO 


213 


bronze pins used to curl the hair of an old Tanit in 
the third chapel, close to the emerald vine. Regularly 
at certain hours, he raised before the same entrances 
the grand tapestries, which fell back behind him again. 
He remained with his arms open in the same attitude, 
prayed prostrated upon the same stones ; and about 
him, through the lobbies filled with eternal twilight, 
moved only a population of barefooted priests. 

But over the barrenness of his life Salammbo came 
as a flower in the cleft of a sepulchre. Yet he was 
harsh to her, and spared her neither penances nor 
bitter speeches. His condition established between 
them the equality of a common sex ; and yet, his de- 
sire toward the maiden would have been rather to 
have the power of possessing her than to find her so 
fair and, above all, so pure. Often he saw that she 
wearied, trying in vain to follow his thoughts. Then 
he turned away sadly, and felt himself more forsaken, 
more lonely, and more useless. 

Strange words frequently escaped him, and passed 
before Salammbo like broad flames illuminating 
abysses. 

It would be night, on her terrace, when alone these 
two would observe the stars, while Carthage spread it- 
self below their feet, and the gulf and open sea were 
vaguely obscured in the colour of the darkness. 

He revealed to her the theory of souls which de- 
scended on the earth, following the same route as the 
sun through the signs of the zodiac. With extended 
arm he pointed out in Aries the entrance of the human 
generation; in Capricorn the return toward the gods; 
and Salammbo strove to perceive them, for she took 
these conceptions for realities, accepting as realities 
pure symbols, and even figures of speech, a distinction 
no longer clearly defined even to the priest. 


214 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ The souls of the dead,” he said, “ resolve them- 
selves into the moon as do the corpses into the earth. 
Their tears compose her humidity ; it is a dark abode 
full of mire, wrecks, and tempests.” 

She asked what then would become of her. 

“ At first you will languish, light as a vapour that 
floats on the waves ; and after trials and most pro- 
longed agonies, you will enter the centre of the sun, 
the very source of Intelligence ! ” 

As he did not mention Tanit, Salammbo imagined 
he refrained through shame for his vanquished god- 
dess, and therefore called her by a commonplace name, 
that designated the moon. But she continued to pour 
forth blessings upon the planet so fertile and benign. 
At last he exclaimed: 

“ No ! no ! she draws from the sun all her fruitful- 
ness ! Have you not seen her wandering around him 
like an amorous woman who runs after a man in a 
field?”— and unceasingly he exalted the virtues of 

light . , . 

Far from lessening her mystic desires, on the con- 
trary, he stimulated them, and he even seemed to take 
pleasure in troubling her by his revelations of a piti- 
less doctrine. Salammbo, despite the throes of her 
love, threw herself upon them with rapture. 

But the more Schahabarim felt doubts concerning 
Tanit the more he desired to believe in her. In the 
depths of his soul remorse checked him. It was neces- 
sary that he should have some proof, a manifestation 
of the gods ; and in the hope to obtain such, he devised 
an undertaking that should at the same time save his 
country and his belief. 

From this moment he set himself to deplore before 
Salammbo the sacrilege and the consequent misfor- 
tunes even in the regions of the sky. Then abruptly 


SALAMMBO 


215 


he announced the peril threatening the Suffet, who 
was assailed by three armies commanded by Matho 
— for, because of Matho’s possession of the veil, he 
was, in the eyes of the Carthaginians, king of the 
Barbarians ; and he added that the preservation of the 
Republic, as well as her father, depended upon her 
alone. 

“ Upon me ! ” she exclaimed. “ What can I do ? ” 

But the priest, with a smile of disdain, said : 

“ Never will you consent ! ” 

She entreated him to explain. Finally Schahabarim 
said to her : 

“ It is necessary that you go to the Barbarians’ camp 
and bring back the Zaimph.” 

She sank down upon the ebony stool, and remained 
with her arms stretched out between her knees, shud- 
dering throughout her entire frame like a victim at the 
foot of an altar awaiting the blow of the axe. Her 
temples throbbed ; she saw circles of fire burning be- 
fore her eyes, and in her stupor comprehended nothing 
more than that she must die soon. 

But if Rabbetna triumphed — if the Zaimph was re- 
covered and Carthage delivered — of what importance 
the life of one woman! thought Schahabarim. Then 
she might perhaps obtain the veil and not perish. 

For three days he stayed away from her ; the evening 
of the fourth day she sent for him. 

To inflame her heart more surely, he reported all 
the invectives that were openly hurled in the Council 
upon Hamilcar; he told her she had sinned, and that 
she should make reparation for her crime; that Rab- 
betna commanded this sacrifice. 

A great clamour crossed over the Mappals, and 
reached Megara. Schahabarim and Salammbo went 
quickly out, and looked from the top of the galley 
stairway. 


216 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


It was occasioned by the people congregated in the 
square of Khamoun, who yelled out for arms. The 
Elders did not wish to furnish them, as they esteemed 
this effort unavailing; others who had gone without a 
general had been massacred. At last the crowd was 
permitted to sally forth ; and as a kind of homage to 
Moloch, or a vague wish for destruction, they pulled 
up in the groves of the temple large cypress trees, and 
having lighted them in the torches of the Kabyri, car- 
ried them through the streets while they sang. These 
monstrous flames advanced swaying gently, casting re- 
flections on the glass globes at the crest of the tem- 
ples, on the ornaments of the colossi, on the beak- 
heads of the ships, passing beyond the terraces, and 
appearing like suns revolving in the city. They de- 
scended the Acropolis. The gate of Malqua opened. 

“ Are you ready ? ” exclaimed Schahabarim, “ or 
have you told them to say to your father that you 
abandon him?.” She hid her face in her veil, and 
the great lights receded, gradually sinking to the edge 
of the waves. 

An indefinable terror held her ; she was afraid of 
Moloch, afraid of Matho. That man of giant stature, 
who was master of the Zaimph, dominated Rabbetna, 
even as the Baal did, and he appeared to her sur- 
rounded with the same splendours. Then she remem- 
bered that the spirit of the gods sometimes visited the 
bodies of men. Had not Schahabarim, in speaking 
of him, declared that she ought to conquer Moloch? 
They were confused the one with the other : she con- 
founded them : both pursued her. 

Wishing to know the future, she approached her 
serpent — for auguries were often drawn from the at- 
titude of the serpents. The basket was empty. Sa- 
lammbo was troubled. 


SALAMMBO 


217 


She found it coiled up by its tail to one of the silver 
balustrades near the suspended couch, rubbing itself, 
to get free from its old yellowish skin ; meanwhile 
its body, shining and bright, was gradually appearing, 
like a blade being drawn from the scabbard. 

The following days, in proportion as she allowed 
herself to be convinced and was more disposed to suc- 
cour Tanit, the Python grew better and larger, and 
seemed to revive. 

The certainty that Schahabarim expressed the will 
of the gods established itself in her conscience. One 
morning she arose decided, and asked the priest what 
it was necessary for her to do to compel Matho to give 
back the veil. 

“ Claim it,” said Schahabarim. 

“ But if he refuses? ” she resumed. 

The priest gazed at her attentively, and with such a 
smile as she had never before seen. 

“ Yes; what shall I do? ” repeated Salammbo. 

He rolled between his fingers the ends of the 
bandlets that fell down from his tiara over his shoul- 
ders, his eyes downcast ; finally perceiving that she 
did not comprehend, he said : 

“ You will be alone with him.” 

“ And then?” 

“ Alone in his tent.” 

“ And what then ? ” 

Schahabarim bit his lips; he sought for some in- 
definite phrase. 

“ If you are to die it will be later,” said he; “ much 
later! fear nothing! and whatever he attempts, do not 
call out ! do not be frightened ! You must be humble, 
you understand, and submissive to his desire, for it 
is ordained of Heaven ! ” 

“ But the veil? ” 


218 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ The gods will care for it,” responded Schaha- 
barim. 

She added : 

“ Oh, father, if you would only accompany me ? ” 

“ No ! ” 

He made her kneel, and keeping her left hand raised 
and her right one extended, he swore in her behalf to 
bring back to Carthage the veil of Tanit. With fear- 
ful imprecations, she consecrated herself to the gods, 
and each time that Schahabarim pronounced a word 
she tremblingly repeated it. 

He indicated to her all the purifications and fasts 
she ought to perform, and what paths to follow, in 
order to reach Matho’s tent ; besides, he told her that 
a servitor familiar with the roads should accompany 
her. 

She felt herself freed. She dreamed of naught but 
the happiness of finding the Zaimph; and now she 
blessed Schahabarim for his exhortations. 

The doves of Carthage at this season migrated to 
the mountain of Eryx in Sicily, there nesting about 
the temple of Venus. Previous to their departure, 
during many days, they sought each other, and cooed 
to reunite themselves ; finally one evening they flew 
away, driven by the wind, and the large, white cloud 
blew across the heavens very high above the sea. 

The horizon was crimson. They seemed gradually 
to descend to the waves, then to disappear as if 
swallowed up and falling, of their own accord, into 
the jaws of the sun. Salammbo, who watched them 
go, drooped her head. Taanach, believing that she 
surmised her mistress’s grief, tenderly said : 

“ Tut, mistress, they will return.” 

“ Yes ! I know it.” 


SALAMMBO 


219 


“ And you will see them again.” 

“ Perhaps ! ” Salammbo said, as she sighed. 

She had not confided to anyone her resolution, and 
for its secret accomplishment she sent Taanach to 
purchase, in the suburbs of Kinisdo (instead of re- 
quiring them of the stewards), all the articles it was 
necessary she should have : vermilion, aromatics, a 
linen girdle, and new garments. The old slave was 
amazed’ at these preparations, but dared not ask any 
questions ; and so the day arrived fixed by Schaha- 
barim for Salammbo’s departure. 

Toward the twelfth hour, she perceived at the end 
of the sycamores an old blind man, who rested one 
hand on the shoulder of a child who walked before 
him, and in the other hand he held, against his hip, 
a species of cithara made of black wood. 

The eunuchs, the slaves, the women had been sent 
away; no one could possibly know the mystery that 
was being prepared. 

Taanach lighted in the corners of the room four 
tripods full of strobus and cardamom, then she spread 
out great Babylonian tapestries, and hung them on 
cords all round the room — for Salammbo did not wish 
to be seen even by the walls. The player of the kinnor 
waited crouching behind the door, and the young boy, 
standing up, applied a reed flute to his lips. In the 
distance the clamour of the streets died away, the 
violet shadows lengthened before the peristyles of the 
temples, and on the other side of the gulf the base of 
the mountain, the olive fields, and the waste yellow 
ground undulated, till they finally blended in a bluish 
vapour; not a sound could be heard, and an inde- 
scribable oppression filled the air. 

Salammbo crouched on the onyx step on the edge 
of the porphyry basin ; she lifted her wide sleeves fast- 


220 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


ening them behind her shoulders, and began her ab- 
lutions in a methodical manner, according to the sa- 
cred rites. 

Next Taanach brought to her an alabaster phial, in 
which was something liquid, yet coagulated; it was 
the blood of a black dog, strangled by barren women 
on a winter night amid the ruins of a sepulchre. She 
rubbed it on her ears, her heels, and the thumb of her 
right hand, and even the nail remained tinged a trifle 
red, as if she had crushed a berry. The moon 
rose, and then the cithara and the flute began to 
play. Salammbo removed her ear-rings, her necklace, 
bracelets, and her long white simar; unknotted the 
fillet from her hair, and for some minutes shook her 
tresses gently over her shoulders to refresh and dis- 
entangle them. The music outside continued; there 
were always the same three notes, precipitous and fu- 
rious ; the strings grated, the flute was high-sounding 
and sonorous. Taanach marked time by striking her 
hands ; Salammbo, with a swaying of her entire body, 
chanted her prayers, and one by one her garments fell 
around her on the floor. 

The heavy tapestry trembled, and above the cord 
that sustained it the head of the Python appeared. 
He descended slowly, like a drop of water trickling 
along a wall, and glided between the stufifs scattered 
about, then poised himself on his tail; suddenly he 
lifted himself perfectly straight, and darted his eyes, 
more brilliant than crimson carbuncles, upon Sa- 
lammbo. 

A shudder of cold, or a feeling of modesty perhaps, 
at first made her hesitate. But she recalled the order 
of Schahabarim, so she advanced ; the Python lowered 
himself, alighting in the middle of his body upon the 
nape of her neck, allowing his head and tail to hang 


SALAMMBO 


221 


down like a broken necklace, with the two ends trailing 
on the floor. Salammbo rolled them around her sides, 
under her arms, between her knees; then taking him 
by the jaw, she drew his little triangular mouth close 
to her teeth ; and with half-closed eyes she threw her- 
self back under the moon’s rays. The white light 
seemed to enshroud her in a silvery fog ; the tracks of 
her wet feet shone on the flagstones ; stars twinkled in 
the depths of the water ; the serpent tightened around 
her his black coils, speckled with spots of gold. Sa- 
lammbo panted under this great weight ; her loins gave 
way, she felt that she was dying: the Python patted 
her thighs softly with his tail ; then the music ceased, 
and he fell down. 

Taanach returned to Salammbo, and after arrang- 
ing two candelabras, the lights of which burned in two 
crystal globes filled with water, she tinted with henna 
the inside of the hands of her mistress, touched her 
cheeks with vermilion, put antimony on her eyelids, 
and lengthened her eyebrows with a mixture of gum, 
musk, ebony, and crushed flies’ feet. 

Salammbo, sitting in a chair mounted with ivory, 
abandoned herself to the care of her slave. But the 
soothing touches, the odour of the aromatics, and the 
fasts she had kept, enervated her: she became so pale 
that Taanach paused. 

“ Continue ! ” said Salammbo ; and as she drew her- 
self up in spite of her fatigue, she felt all at once re- 
animated. Then an impatience seized her; she urged 
Taanach to hasten her movements, and the old slave 
growled : 

“ Well ! well ! mistress ! . . . You have no one 

waiting for you ! ” 

“ Yes ! ” responded Salammbo, “ some one waits for 


me. 


222 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Taanach started with surprise, and in order to learn 
more, she said : 

“ What do you order me to do, mistress, if you 
should remain away 

But Salammbo sobbed, and the slave exclaimed : 

“You suffer! What is it? Do not go! Take me! 
When you were a little one and wept, I held you to 
my heart and suckled you, and made you laugh by 
tickling you with my nipples. Mistress ! ” she struck 
her withered breasts, “ you sucked them dry. Now 
I am old ! I can do nothing for you ! You do not love 
me any more! You hide your troubles from me, you 
despise your nurse ! ” With fondness and vexation 
the tears coursed down her face, in the scars of her 
tattooing. 

“No!” said Salammbo, “no; I love you; be com- 
forted ! ” 

Taanach, with a smile like the grimace of an old ape 
continued her task. Following the directions of the 
priest, Salammbo ordered her slave to make her mag- 
nificent. Taanach complied, with a barbaric taste full 
of elaboration and ingenuity. 

Over a first fine wine-coloured tunic she placed a 
second one, embroidered with birds’ plumes. Golden 
scales rested on her hips, from her wide girdle flowed 
the folds of her blue, silver-starred trousers. Then 
Taanach adjusted an ample robe of rare stuff from the 
land of the Seres, white, variegated with green stripes. 
She fastened over Salammbo’s shoulders a square of 
purple, made heavy at the hem with beads of sanda- 
strum; and on the top of all these robes she arranged 
a black mantle with a long train. Then she contem- 
plated her, and proud of her work, she could not keep 
from saying: 

“ You will not be fairer the day of your bridal ! ” 


SALAMMBO 


223 


“ My bridal ! ” repeated Salammbo in a reverie, as 
she leaned her elbow on the ivory chair. 

Taanach held up before her mistress a copper mir- 
ror, wide and long enough for her to view herself 
completely. She stood up, and with a light touch of 
a finger put back a curl that drooped too low on her 
forehead. Her hair was powdered with gold dust, 
waved in front, hanging down her back in long 
twists, terminating in pearls. The light from the 
candelabra heightened the colour on her cheeks, the 
gold throughout her garments, and the whiteness of 
her skin. She wore around her waist, on her arms, 
hands, and feet such a number of jewels that the mir- 
ror, reflecting like a sun, flashed back prismatic rays 
upon her: and Salammbo standing beside Taanach, 
leaned and turned around on all sides to view herself, 
smiling at the dazzling effect. 

Then she walked to and fro, embarrassed by the time 
that she needs must wait. 

Suddenly the crow of a cock was heard. She quickly 
pinned over her hair a long yellow veil, passed a scarf 
around her neck, and buried her feet in blue leather 
boots, saying to Taanach: 

“ Go, see under the myrtles, if there be not a man 
with two horses/’ 

Taanach had scarcely reentered before Salammbo 
descended the stairway of the galleys. 

“ Mistress ! ” called out the slave. Salammbo 
turned around and placed one finger on her lips, in 
sign of discretion and silence. 

Taanach crept softly the length of the prows as far 
as the foot of the terrace, and in the distance by the 
moonlight she discerned in the cypress avenue a gi- 
gantic shadow moving obliquely to the left of Sa- 
lammbo: this was a presage of death. 


224 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Taanach went back to her room, cast herself on the 
floor, tore her face with her finger-nails, pulled out 
her hair, and uttered piercing yells at the top of her 
voice. 

Finally the thought came to her that she might be 
heard ; then she was quiet, sobbing very low, with her 
head between her hands and her face laid flat on the 
pavement. 


CHAPTER XI 

IN THE TENT 

S ALAMMBO was led by the guide Schahabarim 
had appointed, up the road toward the Cata- 
combs and then down the long suburb of Mo- 
louya, full of steep lanes. 

The sky began to grow grey. Sometimes palm- 
branches jutting beyond the walls obliged them to bend 
their heads. The two horses, walking carefully, kept 
slipping; and they thus arrived at the Teveste gate. 

Its heavy valves were half open; they passed 
through, and it slowly swung to behind them. 

For some time they followed the foot of the ram- 
parts, and at the top of the cisterns they took a road 
by the Taenia, a narrow strip of yellow land, which 
separating the gulf from the lake, extended as far as 
Rhades. 

No one was visible in or about Carthage, either on 
the sea or in the surrounding country. The clay-col- 
oured waves rippled softly, as the gentle wind tossed 
the foam over the sweep of the breakers and flecked 
them with broken splashes of white. 


SALAMMBO 


225 


Notwithstanding her numerous wraps, Salammbo 
shivered in the freshness of the morning; she felt 
dizzy from the unaccustomed motion of the horse and 
the open air. Then the sun rose; its rays fell on the 
back of her head, and involuntarily she became drowsy. 
The two horses ambled along side by side, burying 
their hoofs in the silent sand. 

When they passed the Hot-Springs Mountain, they 
gained speed as the ground became firmer. 

Although it was the season for ploughing and sow- 
ing, the fields as far as the eye could see were as for- 
saken as a desert ; heaps of grain were spread out from 
place to place; elsewhere the reddened barley shed it- 
self from the ear ; and on the clear horizon, villages 
showed black, with incoherent and mutilated outlines. 

Now and again a half-calcined piece of wall stood 
erect on the roadside. The cabin roofs were falling 
in, exposing the interiors, where could be seen frag- 
ments of pottery, tatters of clothing, all sorts of uten- 
sils, and unrecognisable shattered objects. Frequently 
a being covered with rags emerged from the ruins, 
its face incrusted with dirt, and eyes flaming, but al- 
ways quickly took to its heels, or disappeared in a hole. 
Salammbo and her guide did not pause. 

Abandoned plains succeeded each other. Over wide 
stretches of yellow earth spread out in uneven streaks, 
a black charcoal dust, raised by the horses’ feet, rose 
behind them in clouds. Sometimes they came to peace- 
ful nooks, where a brook ran amid long grasses, and 
as they climbed up the opposite bank, Salammbo, to 
refresh her hands, would pluck the wet leaves. 

At the corner of a wood of laurel-roses she was 
nearly unseated by her horse shying at a corpse in 
the roadway. The slave readjusted her on the cush- 
ions. He was one of the servitors of the temple of 


226 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Tanit, a man whom Schahabarim employed in peril- 
ous missions. With extreme caution he now went on 
foot beside her, between the two horses, now and then 
touching them up with the end of a leather lash, wound 
around his arm; or pulling from a pannier hung on 
his breast balls of wheat, dates, and yolks of eggs, 
wrapped up in lotus leaves, he would proffer them to 
Salammbo, without speaking or pausing. 

In the middle of the day, three Barbarians dressed 
in animals’ skins crossed their path ; gradually others 
appeared, wandering in bands of ten, twelve, or twenty- 
five, many driving she-goats or limping cows. Their 
heavy clubs were studded with brass points ; cutlasses 
glittered on their filthy savage clothing. Seeing the 
riders, they opened their eyes wide with a threatening 
and amazed air. 

As they passed along, some shouted after them a 
commonplace benediction, others obscene pleasantries ; 
and the guide answered each group in their own idiom, 
telling them that he was conducting a sick youth to be 
healed at a distant temple. 

Meantime the day fell. The baying of a dog 
was heard, and they proceeded toward the sound. 
Through the twilight they perceived an enclosure of 
uncemented stones surrounding a shapeless building. 
A dog ran along on the wall ; the slave threw a stone 
at it, and they entered a high, vaulted hall. In the 
centre a crouching woman was warming herself at a 
brushwood fire, the smoke from which escaped 
through a hole in the roof. Her white hair fell to her 
knees, half concealing her, and not wishing to answer 
the guide, she mumbled in an idiotic manner words of 
vengeance against the Barbarians and the Carthagin- 
ians. 

After the guide had ferreted about from right to 


SALAMMBO 


227 


left, he came back to the old woman, and demanded 
something to eat. She shook her head, keeping her 
eyes fixed on the fire, and murmured : 

“ I was the hand ; the ten fingers are cut off. The 
mouth can eat no more.” 

The guide showed her a handful of gold pieces ; she 
threw herself upon them, but quickly resumed her mo- 
tionless attitude. 

Finally he drew a dagger from his girdle, and 
pointed it at her throat; then she tremblingly lifted 
up a large slab, and brought out from concealment 
an amphora of wine and some fish preserved in honey 
from Hippo-Zarytus. 

Salammbo turned away from this unclean food, and, 
being weary, slept on the caparisons taken from her 
horse, and heaped in a corner of the hall. 

Before daybreak the guide awoke her. 

The dog growled, and the guide stole softly up be- 
hind it, and with a single blow of his dagger, cut off 
its head. He rubbed the blood on the horses’ nostrils 
to reanimate them. The old hag threw a curse after 
them. Salammbo heard it, and pressed the amulet she 
wore to her heart. 

They resumed their journey. Urged by impatience, 
now and again she asked the guide if they should not 
soon reach their destination. The road led over little 
hills. The chirping of the cicadas was alone audible. 
The sun heated the yellowed grasses. The ground was 
riven by crevices, which divided it into immense slabs. 

Sometimes a viper crawled by, or an eagle flew over- 
head. The guide ran alongside of Salammbo, who 
mused beneath her veils, and, despite the heat, re- 
frained from casting them aside, fearful of soiling 
her beautiful vestments. 

At regular distances towers loomed up, built by the 


228 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Carthaginians for the purpose of watching the tribes. 
Occasionally they entered one of these, to avail them- 
selves of the shade, but, once refreshed, started on 
again. 

The previous day, by way of precaution, they had 
made a wide detour, but at present they were meeting 
no one ; the region was barren, the Barbarians had 
not passed that way. 

Gradually the devastation appeared again ; and some- 
times in the midst of a field there appeared a mosaic 
floor, the sole relic of a vanished mansion. The 
olive-trees, stripped of foliage, seemed in the dis- 
tance like broad thorn-bushes. They passed through 
a town in which all the houses had been burnt flat to 
the ground. Along on the wall-sides could be seen 
human skeletons, as well as those of dromedaries and 
mules ; and half-devoured carrion blocked many of the 
streets. 

Night fell ; the sky hung low, and was covered with 
clouds. 

For two hours more they ascended in a westerly 
direction ; when all at once appeared quantities of 
small flames. 

At the bottom of an amphitheatre, here and there 
golden plates gleamed as they moved about. These 
were the cuirasses of the Clinabarians in the Punic 
camp. Then they distinguished in the same vicinity 
other and more numerous lights, for the armies of the 
Mercenaries were now combined and massed together, 
covering a vast area. 

Salammbo made a movement to advance, but the 
guide led her further on, and they skirted the terrace 
that enclosed the Barbarians’ camp. A breach was 
discovered : the slave disappeared. 

At the top of the entrenchments patrolled a sentinel, 


SALAMMBO 229 

carrying a bow in his hand and a pike over his shoul- 
der. 

Salammbo continued to advance. The sentinel knelt 
down, and a long arrow pierced the end of her mantle. 
Then she halted motionless ; he asked her what she 
wanted. 

“ To speak to Matho,” she replied. “lama fugi- 
tive from Carthage.” 

He whistled ; the signal was repeated many times in 
the distance. 

Salammbo waited ; her frightened horse snorted and 
wheeled. 

When Matho arrived, the moon was rising behind 
her, but her face was concealed under a yellow veil 
covered with black flowers, and so many draperies 
enveloped her, it was impossible to recognise her. 
From the top of the terrace he contemplated this 
vague form rising like a phantom through the even- 
ing shadows. 

At length she said to him : 

“ Conduct me to your tent. I wish it.” 

A recollection which he could not define passed 
through his memory. He felt his heart beat. This 
air of command intimidated him. 

“ Follow me ! ” said he. 

The barrier was lowered; she was within the camp 
of the Barbarians. 

It was replete with a great tumult and a surging 
crowd. Fires burned brightly under suspended camp 
kettles, and their crimson reflections cast weird shad- 
ows in certain places, while permitting others to re- 
main in complete darkness. 

People were shouting and calling on all sides; the 
horses were tethered in long, straight rows between 
the tents, that were round or square, constructed of 


230 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


leather or canvas ; there were also reed huts, and holes 
dug in the ground, like burrows of animals. 

The soldiers were carting faggots for the fires, or 
were squatting on the ground, or, wrapped up in their 
mats, were preparing themselves for sleep ; and Sa- 
lammbo’s horse, in order to step over their forms, 
sometimes was forced to stretch out its legs and leap. 

Salammbo recalled having seen these very same 
men before; but now their beards were much longer, 
their faces more tanned, and their voices harsher. 
Matho walked in front of her, and waved them away 
with a gesture of his arm that lifted his red mantle. 
Some kissed his hands, others bowed down and ac- 
costed him, to request his commands, for he was now 
veritable and only Chief of the Barbarians : Spendius, 
Autharitus, and Narr’ Havas had been discouraged, 
but he had shown such audacity and determination 
that all obeyed him. 

Salammbo, following him, traversed the entire length 
of the camp, as his tent was pitched at the end, only 
three hundred paces from Hamilcar’s entrenchments. 

She noticed on the right a broad pit, and it seemed 
to her that faces leaned on the edge, level with the 
ground, resembling decapitated heads; yet their eyes 
moved, and from their half-opened mouths moans in 
the Punic language escaped. 

Two Negroes, holding cressets filled with burning 
resin, stood on either side of Matho’s tent. He ad- 
vanced, and brusquely drawing aside the canvas, en- 
tered. She followed him. It was a deep tent, sup- 
ported by a pole in the middle, and lighted by a large 
sconce in the form of a lotus, filled with yellow oil, on 
which floated handfuls of burning tow ; in the shadows 
were shining military accoutrements. A naked sword 
leaned against a stool, beside a shield ; whips of hippo- 


SALAMMBO 


231 


potamus hide, cymbals, little bells and collars, were 
thrown pell-mell into baskets of esparto-grass ; crumbs 
of black bread soiled a felt rag; in one corner, on a 
round stone, copper money was carelessly heaped ; and 
through the rents of the tent-canvas the wind brought 
from without the dust, and the scent of the elephants, 
which could be heard feeding and rattling their chains. 

“ Who are you? ” commanded Matho. 

Without a reply she slowly looked round the tent, 
and her glance was arrested at the background, where, 
on a bed of palm-branches, lay something bluish and 
scintillating. 

She advanced quickly : a cry escaped her. Matho, 
behind her, stamped his foot. 

“ What brings you here ? Why do you come ? ” 

She replied, pointing to the Zaimph : 

“ To take it ! ” and with the other hand she pulled off 
her veils. Matho recoiled, his elbows thrown back, 
gaping, almost terrified. 

She felt herself sustained as if by the power of the 
gods, and gazing at him face to face, she demanded the 
Zaimph, claiming it with profuse and haughty words. 

Matho did not hear : he was staring at her, and her 
garments, that were to him blended with her body : the 
sheen of the fabrics was like the splendour of her skin, 
something special, peculiar to her alone : her eyes and 
her diamonds sparkled ; the polish of her finger-nails 
were a continuation of the lustre of the jewels that be- 
decked her fingers ; the two clasps fastening her tunic 
raised her breasts a trifle up and pressed them closer; 
and he, in a reverie, lost himself in the narrow space 
between them as his eye followed the slender thread 
to which was suspended an emerald medallion that re- 
vealed itself lower down under the violet gauze. She 
wore for ear-rings two tiny balances of sapphires, sup- 


232 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


porting a hollow pearl filled with liquid perfume, which 
percolated through minute perforations, moistening her 
bare shoulders. Matho watched it slowly trickle down. 

An irresistible curiosity attracted him, and like a 
child who puts its hand on an unknown fruit, trem- 
blingly he touched her lightly with the tip of his finger 
on the upper part of her bosom ; the flesh, slightly cold, 
yielded with an elastic resistance. 

This contact, although scarcely perceptible, penetrated 
Matho to the depths of his soul. An insurrection of his 
whole being impelled him toward her. He desired to 
envelope her, absorb her, drink her. His bosom heaved, 
his teeth chattered. 

Taking her by the wrists he gently drew her to him, 
and then sat down on a cuirass beside the couch of 
palm-branches, covered with a lion’s skin ; she remained 
standing. Thus holding her between his knees, he 
scanned her from head to foot, repeating : 

“ How beautiful you are ! How beautiful you are ! ” 

His eyes continually fixed on hers made her suffer, 
and this embarrassment, this repugnance, increased in 
a manner so keen that Salammbo had to restrain her- 
self from screaming out. The thought of Schahabarim 
came to her ; she resigned herself. 

Matho kept her little hands in his, and from time to 
time, in spite of the priest’s orders, she averted her 
face, and tried to throw him off by shaking her arms. 
He dilated his nostrils to breathe more freely the per- 
fume exhaled from her person — a fresh indefinable 
emanation which yet made him dizzy, like the fumes 
from a censer — a diffusion of honey, pepper, incense, 
roses, and yet another odour. 

But, how came she to be thus beside him in his tent, 
at his discretion? Some one doubtless had brought 
her. She had not come for the Zaimph? His arms 


SALAMMBO 


233 


fell, and he bent his head, overwhelmed by a sudden 
reverie. 

In order to move him, Salammbo said, in a plaintive 
voice : 

“ What, then, have I done to you, that you wish my 
death ? ” 

“ Your death ! ” he exclaimed. 

She resumed : 

“ I saw you one night, by the flames of my burning 
gardens, between the steaming cups and my slain 
slaves ; and at that time your wrath was so fierce that 
you bounded toward me, and made me fly ! Then a 
terror entered Carthage — devastation of the cities — 
burning of the countries — massacre of the soldiers. It 
is you who have ruined them ! It is you who have as- 
sassinated them ! I abhor you ! Your name alone 
gnaws me like remorse ! You are more execrable than 
the plague ! Aye, than the Roman war ! The prov- 
inces quake before your fury; the ditches are full of 
corpses ! I have followed the trace of your fires as 
if I walked behind Moloch ! ” 

Matho bounded up ; a tremendous pride swelled his 
heart ; he felt himself lifted to the stature of a god. 

With palpitating nostrils and clenched teeth, she con- 
tinued : 

“ As if there had not already been enough sacrilege, 
you came to my palace while I slept, enveloped in the 
Zai'mph ! Your words I did not comprehend ; but I saw 
that you desired to drag me toward something fright- 
ful — to plunge me to the bottom of an abyss ! ” 

Matho, wringing his hands, cried out : 

“ No! no! It was to give the Zai'mph to you! To 
render it back to you ! For it seemed to me that the 
goddess had left her vestment for you, and that it was 
yours! In her temple or in your mansion, what mat- 


234 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


ter? Are you not all-powerful, immaculate, radiant 
and beautiful as Tanit?” And with a look full of 
adoration : 

“ At least — perhaps — if you may not be Tanit her- 
self?" 

“ I, Tanit! ” Salammbo thought, wondering. 

They spoke no more. The distant thunder rumbled. 
The sheep bleated, frightened by the storm. 

“ Oh ! come near ! ” he resumed. “ Come near ; fear 
nothing ! 

“ Formerly I was but a soldier, among the common 
Mercenaries, and even carried upon my back the wood 
for my comrades. Do I trouble myself about Car- 
thage? The crowd of Carthage tosses to and fro as 
if lost in the dust of your sandals, and all the Car- 
thaginian treasures, with her provinces, her waters, and 
her islands, do not tempt me like the freshness of your 
lips and the turn of your shoulders. But I wanted to 
pull down her walls, that I might come near to you and 
possess you ! Besides, while I wait I revenge myself ! 
At present, I crush men like shells. I throw myself 
on the phalanxes ; I scatter the sarissas with my hands, 
and arrest the stallions by their nostrils; a catapult is 
powerless to kill me ! Oh ! if you only knew how in 
the midst of this war I have thought of you ! Some- 
times the memory of a gesture — of a fold in your gar- 
ments, has suddenly seized me and entangled me like 
a net ! I saw your eyes in the flames of the fire-lances 
and above the gilding of the shields. I hear your voice 
in the sounding of the cymbals ; I turn around — you 
are not there ! And then I plunge again into the thick 
of battle ! ” 

He lifted his arms, and the swollen veins intercrossed 
like ivy creeping over the branches of trees ; the per- 
spiration rolled down on his chest between his squared 


SALAMMBO 


235 


muscles, while his rapid breathing made his sides pal- 
pitate beneath his belt of bronze, fitted with straps that 
hung to his knees, which were firmer then marble. Sa- 
lammbo, accustomed to the eunuchs, yielded to the 
force of this man. 

It was the chastisement of the goddess, or the in- 
fluence of Moloch, circulating around her in the five 
armies. Overwhelmed by a certain lassitude, she in- 
distinctly heard through her stupor the intermittent 
call of the sentinels answering one another. 

The flames of the lamp wavering fitfully under gusts 
of warm air, became at moments bright flashes of light, 
then almost died out, intensifying the obscurity ; and 
she saw only Matho’s eyeballs like two glowing coals 
in the night. Now she felt, indeed, that a fatality en- 
compassed her, that she had attained a supreme mo- 
ment which was irrevocable, and with one effort she 
went toward the Zaimph, and raised her hands to 
seize it. 

“ What are you doing? ” cried Matho. 

She answered calmly: 

“ I am going back to Carthage with the Zaimph.” 

He advanced, and folded his arms with an air so ter- 
rible that she was immediately as one nailed to the 
ground. 

“ You return with it to Carthage! ” he stammered; 
and repeated, grinding his teeth: “You return with 
it to Carthage ! Ah ! you came to take the Zaimph, to 
conquer me, then to disappear! No! no! you belong 
to me! and no. one can now tear you from here! Ah! 
I have not forgotten the insolence of your large, tran- 
quil eyes, and how you crushed me with your haughty 
beauty! It is my turn now! You are my captive, my 
slave, my servant! Call, if you will, on your father, 
and his army, the Elders, the Rich, and your entire 


236 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


accursed people ! I am the master of three hundred 
thousand soldiers! I will go and seek them in Lu- 
sitania, among the Gauls, and in the depths of the 
desert. I will overthrow your town, and burn all its 
temples! The triremes shall float on waves of blood! 
I do not choose that a single house, a stone, or a palm- 
tree remain! And if men fail me, I will draw the 
bears from the mountains, and turn the lions upon your 
people ! Do not seek to fly, or I shall kill you ! ” 

Ghastly, and with fists clenched, he quivered like a 
harp when the over-tense strings are about to snap. 
Suddenly sobs suffocated him, and he sank down be- 
fore her. 

“ Ah ! forgive me, I am a wretch, viler than the scor- 
pions, than the mud or the dust! Just now, as you 
were speaking, your breath passed over my face, and I* 
revelled in it as a dying man who, prone on his face, 
drinks at the edge of a stream. Crush me, that I may 
feel your feet ! Curse me, that I may hear your voice ! 
Do not go ! Have pity ! I love you ! I love you ! ” 

He was on his knees on the ground before her, and 
he encircled her waist with his arms, his head thrown 
back and his hands wandering about her; the gold 
discs suspended from his ears shone on his bronzed 
throat ; large tears rolled in his eyes, like silver balls ; 
he sighed caressingly, and murmured vague speeches 
lighter than a breeze, sweet as a kiss. 

Salammbo was overcome by a softness in which she 
lost all consciousness of herself. Something at once 
from within, and from on high, an order of the gods, 
forced her to yield herself; clouds uplifted her, and, 
fainting, she fell back on the couch in the midst of the 
lion s skin. Matho seized her in a frantic embrace ; 
her golden chainlet snapped, and the two ends flew apart, 
striking against the tent like two leaping vipers. The 


SALAMMBO 


237 


Zaimph fell and enveloped her. Seeing Matho’s face 
bending over her, she exclaimed : 

“ Moloch, thou burnest me ! ” and the kisses of the 
soldier, more devouring than fire, covered her. She 
was as if lifted up in a storm, or as consumed by the 
force of the sun. 

He kissed all her fingers ; her arms, her feet, and the 
long tresses of her hair from end to end. 

“Take the Zaimph,” he said; “how can I resist? 
Take me also with it! I will renounce everything! 
Beyond Gades, twenty days’ journey by the sea, there 
is an island covered with gold-dust, with verdure, and 
birds. On the mountains flowers full of smoking per- 
fume swing like eternal censers pin citron trees taller 
than cedars, milk-white serpents with the diamonds of 
their jaws toss the fruit to the ground. The air is so 
soft that you cannot die. Aye, I will seek it ; you shall 
see this haven. We shall live in crystal grottoes hewn 
out at the foot of the hills. No one inhabits this coun- 
try ; I shall become king.” 

He brushed the dust from his cothurnes; then be- 
sought her to allow him to put a quarter of a pome- 
granate between her lips ; he piled up garments behind 
her head to make a pillow ; in fact he sought in every 
imaginable way to serve her, to humble himself, and 
even went so far as to spread over her knees the 
Zaimph as if it were a simple rug. 

“ Do you still keep,” said he, “ those little gazelle 
horns on which your necklaces are suspended? Give 
them to me ! I l©ve them ! ” Joyous laughter escaped 
him ; he talked as if the war were at an end ; the 
Mercenaries, Hamilcar, and all obstacles, had disap- 
peared. 

Through an opening in the tent they saw the moon 
gliding between two clouds. 


238 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ Ah ! what nights I have spent in contemplating 
her! She seemed to me a veil which hid your face; 
you looked at me through it; memories of you were 
mingled with her rays. Then I could see you there no 
more ! ” And with his head upon her bosom, he wept 
freely. 

“ And this is he,” she thought, “ the formidable man 
who makes Carthage tremble ! ” 

Finally he slept ; then, disengaging herself from his 
arms, she placed one foot on the ground, and she saw 
that her chainlet was broken. 

In great families the virgins were accustomed to re- 
spect these little shackles with almost the same rever- 
ence as if they were religious symbols. Salammbo, 
blushing, rolled around her ankles the two ends of her 
dishonoured gold chainlet. Carthage, Megara, her 
mansion, her room and the tract of country through 
which she had recently traversed, rushed in whirlwinds 
through her memory, in images tumultuous, and yet 
distinct. But an abyss removed them far from her, to 
an infinite distance. 

The storm was clearing; occasional heavy drops of 
rain, spattering one by one, made the tent-top sway. 

Matho slept as a man intoxicated, extended on his 
side, one arm flung out beyond the edge of the couch ; 
his pearl bandeau, raised a trifle, exposed his forehead. 
A smile parted his lips, disclosing his glittering teeth 
in the midst of his black beard, and in his half-closed 
eyes lurked a silent, almost outrageous gaiety. Sa- 
lammbo regarded him, her head bent, her hands clasped, 
motionless. 

At the head of the couch a dagger lay on a cypress 
table ; the sight of this shining blade inflamed her with 
murderous desire. Lamenting voices came from afar 
through the darkness, and like a choir of spirits urged 


SALAMMBO 


239 


her. She drew near and seized the haft of the weapon, 
but at the rustle of her robe Matho partially opened 
his eyes, moved his lips over her hands, and the dagger 
dropped. 

Shouts burst out ; a frightful light flashed behind 
the tent. Matho lifted the tent cloth ; a vast conflagra- 
tion enveloped the Libyan camp. Their reed cabins 
were burning, the stems twisting, splintered through 
the smoke, flying like arrows ; against the red horizon 
black shadows ran frantically about. Yells issued from 
those within the cabins; the elephants, the cattle, and 
the horses leaped and plunged among the distracted 
crowd, crushing the soldiers with the munitions and 
baggage that they dragged out of the fire. Trumpets 
sounded. Voices called out : 

“ Matho ! Matho ! ” Men tried to enter, shouting : 

“ Come ! come ! Hamilcar is burning the camp of 
Autharitus.” 

At this he made one bound. Salammbo now found 
herself alone. 

Then she examined the Zaimph ; after she had con- 
templated it well, she was surprised not to experience 
that degree of happiness she had formerly thought 
would be hers. She remained melancholy before her 
dream accomplished. 

Just then the end of the tent was lifted and a hideous 
form appeared. At first Salammbo could only discern 
two eyes, and a long white beard, which hung down to 
the ground, for the rest of the body, entangled in the 
rags of a tawny garment, trailed along the earth : and 
at every forward movement the two hands were buried 
in his beard, and then fell back. Crawling thus he 
gradually arrived at Salammbo’s feet, and she recog- 
nised the aged Gisco. 

In fact, the Mercenaries, to prevent the captive El- 


240 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


ders from escaping, had broken their legs with a metal 
bar, then had thrown them all promiscuously to rot in 
a ditch of filth. The most robust, when they heard the 
rattle of the platters, used to raise themselves up and 
yell : it was thus that Gisco had seen Salammbo. 

When Matho led Salammbo across the camp to his 
tent Gisco had conjectured her to be a Carthaginian 
woman by the little beads of sandastrum that clattered 
on her buskins, and actuated by the presentment of 
some important mystery, with the aid of his compan- 
ions he had succeeded in getting out of the pit, and he 
had dragged himself on his hands and elbows twenty 
yards or more to Matho’s tent; he had heard every- 
thing. 

“ It is you ! ” she said, almost appalled. 

Lifting himself up on his hands, he replied : 

“ It is I ! All believe me to be dead, is it not so ? ” 

She bowed her head, and he continued : 

“ Ah ! why have not the Baals granted me this 
mercy ! ” — and he drew so close that he touched her 
robe — “ they would have spared me the pain of cursing 
you ! ’ 

Salammbo drew herself quickly back ; she was afraid 
of this unclean being, who seemed as hideous as a 
larva and as terrible as a phantom. 

“ I shall soon be one hundred years old,” he said. 
“ I have seen Agathocles, I have also seen Regulus and 
the Roman eagles pass over the Punic harvest fields ! 
I have seen all the horrors of battles and the sea en- 
cumbered with the wrecks of our fleets ! The Bar- 
barians whom I once commanded have captured and 
chained me by my four limbs like a murderous slave ; 
my companions are dying about me; the odours of 
their corpses awaken me at night ; I drive away the 
birds that swoop down to peck out their eyes ; and yet 


SALAMMBO 


241 


not for one single day have I despaired of Carthage! 
Though I had seen the armies of the world pitted 
against her and the flames of the siege overtop the tem- 
ples, I should still have believed in her eternity! But 
now all is ended! All is lost! The gods curse her! 
Malediction on you who have hastened her ruin by 
your dishonour ! ” 

She opened her lips. 

“ Ah ! I was there ! ” cried he. “ I heard you pant- 
ing with lust like a prostitute, and when he told you of 
his passion, you permitted him to kiss your hands! 
But if the madness of your unchastity impelled you, at 
least you should have done as the wild beasts, which 
hide themselves to couple, and not thus have displayed 
your shame almost before the very eyes of your 
father ! ” 

“ What ? ” she exclaimed. 

“ Ah, then you do not know that the two entrench- 
ments are within sixty cubits of each other — that your 
Matho, from excess of audacious pride, has established 
himself in front of Hamilcar? Your father is just 
there behind you, and if I could only have climbed up 
the pathway leading to the platform I could have cried, 
‘ Come now, see your daughter in the embrace of a 
Barbarian ! She has put on the vestments of the god- 
dess to please him, and abandons her body to his lust ; 
thus she betrays the honour of your name and the 
majesty of the gods, the vengeance of her country, 
even the salvation of Carthage ! ” 

The movements of his toothless mouth agitated his 
long white beard to its very end ; his eyes were fastened 
upon her and seemed to devour her, as he said : 

“ Oh ! Sacrilegious one ! Be accursed ! Accursed ! 
Accursed ! ” 

Salammbo had drawn back the tent cloth, and held 


242 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


it uplifted without answering Gisco. She looked in the 
direction of Hamilcar’s encampment. 

“ It is this way, is it not ? ” she asked. 

“What matters that to you? Turn aside! Away! 
Rather crush your face against the earth ! It is a holy 
place, which your look would pollute ! ” 

She threw the Za’imph around her waist, gathered 
up her veils, mantle, and scarf — “ I go there ! ” she 
ejaculated, and disappeared. 

At first she moved along in the darkness without 
meeting anyone, as all had hastened toward the fire, 
and the uproar increased as the far-reaching flames of 
the conflagration impurpled the sky behind. Presently 
a long terrace stopped her progress. She turned from 
right to left at hazard, searching for a rope, a ladder, 
a stone, anything, in fact, to enable her to mount over 
the wall. She was afraid of Gisco, and it seemed that 
cries and steps pursued her. Day was beginning to 
dawn. She discerned by the feeble light a pathway in 
the entrenchments ; taking the hem of her robe between 
her teeth, in three bounds she attained the platform. 

A sonorous shout sounded below her in the shade, 
the same signal that she had heard at the foot of the 
stairway of the galleys. Leaning over the terrace, she 
recognised the man sent by the priest Schahabarim, 
holding the two saddled horses. 

All night he had wandered between the two en- 
trenchments, but becoming disquieted by the conflagra- 
tion, he had gone back, trying to discover what was 
happening in Matho’s camp ; and as he knew that this 
place was nearest to his tent, in obedience to the priest’s 
orders he had not left the spot, but there awaited Sa- 
lammbo. 

He mounted and stood upright on the back of one 
of the horses, and Salammbo slipped down from the 


SALAMMBO 


243 


terrace to him ; they spurred their horses into a sharp 
gallop, circling the Punic camp in search for an en- 
trance. 

Matho reentered his tent. The smoking lamp 
scarcely burned ; as he believed Salammbo was sleep- 
ing, he patted delicately all over the lion’s skin spread 
out on the Couch of palm-branches. He called, and she 
answered not ; he quickly tore down a strip of canvas 
to admit the daylight. The Za'imph was gone. 

The earth trembled beneath the tread of the multi- 
tude. Yells, neighs, and clash of armours sounded 
through the air, and the fanfare of the clarions rung 
out the signal for a charge. All was like a fierce hur- 
ricane whirling around him. An inordinate fury seized 
him; he grasped his weapons and madly dashed out- 
side. 

Long files of Barbarians were descending the moun- 
tain sides at a run, and the Punic squares were advancing 
against them with a heavy, regular oscillation. The fog, 
rifted by the sun’s rays, formed little detached clouds 
that hung in the air, and gradually rising, disclosed 
standards, helmets, and the points of pikes. Under the 
rapid evolutions, portions of the field still in shadow, 
seemed to change place as a single piece. Elsewhere 
it appeared as if torrents were crossing each other, and 
between them thorny masses stood motionless. Matho 
distinguished the captains, soldiers, heralds, and even 
the varlets in the rear who were mounted on asses. 
But Narr’ Havas, instead of holding his position and 
covering the foot-soldiers, abruptly wheeled to the 
right, as if he deliberately desired to be crushed by 
Hamilcar’s troops. 

His cavalry outsped the elephants, which had slack- 
ened their speed, and all the horses stretched out their 


244 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


heads, uncurbed by reins, galloping at a pace so furious 
that their bellies fairly seemed to graze the earth. Then 
suddenly Narr’ Havas rode resolutely toward a sen- 
tinel, threw down his sword, his lance, his javelins, and 
disappeared, unarmed, in the midst of the Carthagin- 
ians. 

The king of the Numidians entered Hamilcar’s^tent 
and said to him, pointing out his men, who had halted 
at a distance : 

“ Barca ! I bring them to you — they are yours ! ” 

Then he prostrated himself in sign of obedience ; and 
recalled, as proof of his fidelity to Hamilcar, all his con- 
duct since the beginning of the war. 

First he recounted how he had prevented the siege 
of Carthage and the massacre of the Punic captives ; 
then, how he had refrained from profiting by the vic- 
tory over Hanno after the defeat at Utica. As to the 
Tyrian cities, they were on the frontier of his own 
realm. Finally, he had not participated at the battle of 
Macar, had even purposely absented himself, to avoid 
the obligation of combating the Suffet. 

In truth, Narr Havas had ever desired to aggran- 
dise himself by encroachments on the Punic provinces, 
and, according to the chances of victory, he had suc- 
coured or deserted the Mercenaries. But seeing that 
Hamilcar would ultimately be the stronger, he had de- 
termined to ally himself to him; and perhaps there 
might also be in his present defection a grudge against 
Matho, either because he was in command, or by reason 
of his former love. 

Without interruption the Suffet listened. This man 
who presented himself thus with all his forces in an 
army to which he owed a debt of vengeance, was an 
auxiliary not to be despised. Hamilcar divined at once 
the utility of such an alliance for the advancement of 


SALAMMBO 


245 


his great projects. With the Numidians he would at 
once free himself from the Libyans ; then he could draw 
with him the West to the conquest of Iberia: hence, 
without asking why he had not come sooner, or com- 
menting on any of his falsehoods, Hamilcar kissed 
Narr’ Havas, clasping him thrice to his breast. 

As a last resort and in despair Hamilcar had fired 
the Libyans’ camp. This army came to him like help 
from the gods; but dissimulating his joy the Suffet 
craftily replied : 

“ May the Baals favour you ! I not know what the 
Republic will do for you, but know this, that Hamilcar 
is not ungrateful.” 

The tumult redoubled ; captains entered ; he armed 
himself as he spoke : 

“Let us go! Return! Your cavalry will destroy 
their infantry between your elephants and mine ! Cour- 
age ! Exterminate them ! ” 

Narr’ Havas was rushing forth just as Salammbo 
appeared. She quickly dismounted and threw open her 
wide mantle ; spreading out her arms she displayed the 
Zaimph. 

The leathern curtain of the tent, looped up at the 
four corners, made visible the entire circuit of the 
mountains covered with soldiers, and as it stood in the 
centre, from all sides Salammbo could be seen. An 
immense clamour burst forth, a long cry of triumph 
and of hope. Those who were marching stopped ; the 
dying leaned on their elbows, and turned round to bless 
her. 

All the Barbarians now knew that she had recovered 
the Zaimph; from the distance they saw her, or be- 
lieved that they saw her, and their yells of rage and 
vengeance resounded, despite the applause of the Car- 
thaginians. Thus these five armies in tiers upon the 


246 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


mountains stamped and howled with joy or rage on all 
sides of Salammbo. 

Hamilcar, powerless to speak, thanked her by nod- 
ding his head. His eyes alternately scanned her and 
the Zaimph ; and he noticed that her chainlet was 
broken. Then he quivered, seized by a terrible sus- 
picion. But quickly resuming his impassibility, he 
looked at Narr’ Havas askance without turning his 
face. 

The king of the Numidians held himself apart in a 
discreet attitude ; on his forehead was a little dust 
where he had touched the ground when prostrating 
himself. Finally the Suffet advanced toward him, and, 
with an air full of gravity : 

“ In recognition of the services that you have ren- 
dered me, Narr’ Havas, I give you my daughter ! ” add- 
ing, “ Be my son, and protect your father ! ” 

Narr’ Havas made a gesture of great surprise, then 
throwing himself on Hamilcar’s hands, he covered 
them with kisses. 

Salammbo, calm as a statue, seemed not to compre- 
hend : she blushed slightly and cast down her eyes, and 
her long lashes made shadows upon her cheeks. Hamil- 
car desired to unite them immediately in an indissoluble 
betrothal. In Salamnibo’s hands a lance was placed, 
which she offered to Narr’ Havas ; their thumbs were 
tied together with a thong of leather; then corn was 
poured over their heads, and the grains which fell 
around them rang, like rebounding hail. 


SALAMMBO 


247 


CHAPTER XII 

THE AQUEDUCT 

T WELVE hours later, there remained of the Mer- 
cenaries only heaps of wounded, dying, and 
dead. 

Hamilcar had suddenly come forth from the bottom 
of the gorge, and descended again upon the western 
slope looking towards Hippo-Zarytus, whither, as the 
space broadened out, he had managed to attract the 
Barbarians. Nan*’ Havas with his cavalry encompassed 
them; the Suffet meanwhile drove them back, and 
crushed them. Furthermore, they were conquered in 
advance by the loss of the Zaimph ; even those who had 
no real faith in it felt a distress akin to weakness. 
Hamilcar, not gratifying his pride by remaining in pos- 
session of the battle-field, had drawn off a little to the 
left upon the heights, whence he commanded the 
enemy. 

The outline of the camps could be recognised by the 
bent-down palisades. A long mass of black cinders 
smoked on the site of the Libyans’ camp ; the upturned 
ground undulated like the waves of the sea, and the 
tents, with their flapping canvas, resembled rudderless 
ships, half lost among the breakers. Cuirasses, pitch- 
forks, clarions, fragments of wood, iron, and brass, 
grain, straw, were mingling with the corpses. Here 
and there some stray fire-lance on the point of extinc- 
tion was burning against a pile of baggage. The earth 
in some places was hidden under the shields ; the car- 
cases of horses succeeded each other in heaps, like a 
chain of hillocks. Large sandals, arms, coats of mail 


248 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


and heads in their helmets, kept together by the 
chin-pieces, which rolled about like balls, were every- 
where visible. Human hair hung on the thorn-bushes. 
In pools of blood disembowelled elephants lay strug- 
gling in death-agonies, with their towers yet upon their 
backs. One stepped upon glutinous things ; and though 
the rain had not fallen, there were pools of mud. 

This confusion of corpses covered the entire surface 
of the mountain from top to bottom. 

Those who survived did not stir more than the dead, 
but crouched in irregular groups, gazing at one an- 
other, too much terrified to speak. 

At the end of a long meadow, the lake of Hippo- 
Zarytus shone under the rays of the setting sun ; to the 
right, close-packed groups of white houses stood out 
above a girdle of walls ; the sea beyond spread out 
indefinitely ; and with their chins in their hands, the 
Barbarians sighed as they thought of their native lands. 
A cloud of grey dust settled down. The evening wind 
blew, refreshing and inflating their lungs. As it grew 
colder, the vermin could be seen leaving the dead bod- 
ies, which were growing cold, and crawling along on 
the warm sand ; and ravens perched motionless on the 
top of large stones, looking toward the dying. 

When night fell, dogs with yellow hair, the unclean 
beasts which follow armies, came stealing softly amidst 
the Barbarians. At first they licked the clotted blood 
from the yet warm stumps of limbs, but soon they set 
to devour the corpses, always beginning on the bowels 
first. 

One by one, like shadows, the fugitives reappeared ; 
the women also ventured to return, for there were still 
some of them left, especially with the Libyans, despite 
the frightful massacre of them by the Numidians. 

Some lighted the ends of ropes to serve as torches ; 


SALAMMBO 


249 


others held their pikes crossed, upon which they placed 
their dead and carried them apart. 

The dead were extended on their backs in long rows, 
open-mouthed, with their lances hard by, or else they 
were piled up in confusion ; and often, in the endeavour 
to discover the missing, it became necessary to dig 
through quite a heap. Then the torches were moved 
slowly over their faces: the hideous weapons had in- 
flicted complicated wounds; greenish shreds of flesh 
hung from their foreheads : they were cut in pieces, or 
clove into the marrow, bluish from strangulation, or 
deeply gashed by the elephants’ tusks. 

Even though they had expired almost at the same 
time, there were marked differences in the progress of 
decomposition. Men from the north were bloated with 
livid swellings ; and the Africans, who were more wiry, 
seemed to have been smoked, and were already dry- 
ing up. 

The Mercenaries were recognisable by the tattooings 
on their hands ; the veterans of Antiochus displayed a 
sparrow-hawk; those who had served in Egypt, the 
head of a cynocephalus ; those who had served under 
the princes of Asia, a battle-axe, a pomegranate, or a 
hammer; and those who had served in the Greek Re- 
publics, the profile of a citadel or the name of an 
Archon; and there were some whose arms were en- 
tirely covered by numerous symbols, blending with the 
scars of old and new wounds. 

For the bodies of men of Latin race — namely, the 
Samnites, Etruscans, Campanians, and the Bruttians — 
four large funeral pyres were erected. 

The Greeks dug pits for their dead with the points 
of their swords ; the Spartans took off their red cloaks 
to wrap about their fallen comrades; the Athenians 
turned the bodies so as to face the rising sun ; the Can- 


250 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


tabrians buried their slain under heaps of pebbles; the 
Nasamones doubled the corpses in two, lashing them 
together with leathern thongs; and the Garamantians 
went away to bury upon the shore, that the waves might 
perpetually lave them. But the Latins were in despair, 
because they could not collect the ashes in urns; the 
Nomads regretted the hot sands in which bodies were 
mummified; and the Celts missed the three rough 
stones under a rainy sky at the end of a gulf full of 
islets. 

Loud cries were raised, followed by a long silence. 
This was to compel the departed souls to return. Then 
the clamour was perseveringly resumed at regular in- 
tervals. 

They excused themselves to the dead for being un- 
able to accord them honours, as the rites prescribed; 
for owing to this privation they were doomed to wan- 
der during infinite periods through all manner of perils 
and metamorphoses. They questioned them, asking 
what they desired, while others poured abuse on them 
for allowing themselves to be conquered. 

The light from the great funeral pyres cast a weird 
pallor over the bloodless faces, upturned here and there 
upon fragments of armour; tears induced tears, till 
sobs became more poignant, recognitions and embraces 
more frantic. The women threw themselves upon the 
bodies, mouth to mouth and brow against brow; they 
were only forced away with blows when the earth was 
thrown into the pits over the bodies. They blackened 
their cheeks ; cut their hair ; drew their blood and shed 
it in the graves. They even gashed upon themselves 
wounds similar to those disfiguring their dead hus- 
bands and lovers. 

Groans burst through the clashing uproar of the 
cymbals. Some pulled off their amulets and spat upon 


SALAMMBO 


251 


them. The dying rolled in the bloody mire, furiously 
biting their mutilated fists; and forty-three Samnites, 
a devoted band, all in the sacred springtime of their 
youth, cut each other’s throats like gladiators. Pres- 
ently the wood for the funeral pyres failed ; the flames 
died down ; all the ditches were filled ; and, wearied 
with weeping, enfeebled, tottering, they slept beside 
their dead brethren, some clinging tenaciously to a life 
full of troubles, and others desirous that they might 
never awaken again. 

In the grey of the dawn there appeared, beyond the 
lines of the Barbarians, soldiers filing past with their 
helmets uplifted on the points of spears: saluting the 
Mercenaries, they inquired if they had no message to 
send back to their countries. 

Others advanced, and the Barbarians recognised 
many of their old comrades. 

The Suffet had proposed to all of the captives to 
serve in his troops. Many had fearlessly refused ; 
and as he was determined not to feed them, or hand 
them over to the Grand Council, he had dismissed 
them with a warning not to again fight against Car- 
thage. He had distributed the enemies’ weapons to 
those whom fear of torture had rendered tractable, 
and now they presented themselves to the vanquished, 
less to win them over than from an impulse of pride 
and curiosity. 

They began with a recital of the good treatment 
bestowed upon them by the Suffet. Much as the 
Barbarians despised these traitors, they listened to 
them with envy. Then, at the first words of reproach, 
the cowards got angry, displaying from afar their own 
captured swords and cuirasses, daring them with in- 
sults to come and take them. The Barbarians picked 
up stones: all fled; and nothing more could be seen 


252 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


at the top of the mountain than their spear-points 
projecting above the palisades. 

Then a grief heavier than that caused by the hu- 
miliation of a defeat overwhelmed the Barbarians ; 
they reflected upon the futility of their courage, and 
they remained with their eyes fixed, grinding their 
teeth. 

The same idea took possession of all: they rushed 
in a tumultuous crowd upon the Carthaginian pris- 
oners whom by chance the soldiers of the Sufifet had 
failed to find ; and as he had withdrawn from the battle- 
field, they were still secure in the deep pit. These vic- 
tims were now ranged on a flat stretch of ground, 
while sentinels made a circle around them, and the 
women were permitted to enter the enclosure by thir- 
ties and forties successively. Eager to make the most 
of the short time permitted to each group, they ran' 
from one victim to another, uncertain, palpitating; 
then leaning over the poor wretches, they pounded 
them with all their might, like washerwomen beating 
linen; crying aloud their husbands’ names, they tore 
them with their nails and dug out their eyes with their 
hairpins. 

After this the men tortured them : from their feet, 
which they cut off at the ankles, to their foreheads, 
from which they tore crowns of skin to place upon 
their own heads. The Eaters-of-Unclean-Things 
were atrocious in their devices : they inflamed the 
wounds by pouring into them dust, vinegar, and bits 
of pottery; others were waiting behind them; the 
blood flowed, and they made merry as do the vin- 
tagers around the fuming vats. 

All this time Matho was seated on the ground in 
the same place as when the battle ended. His elbows 
on his knees, and his temples pressed between his 


SALAMMBO 


253 


hands, he saw nothing, heard nothing, and thought 
no more. 

At the shouts of joy uttered by the crowd, he 
raised his head. Before him, upon a pole, hung a 
strip of' canvas trailing on the ground, partially 
screening disordered baskets, rugs, and a lion’s skin. 
He recognised his tent; and he riveted his eyes upon 
the ground, as if on that spot the daughter of Hamil- 
car, in vanishing from him, had been engulfed in the 
earth. 

The tattered canvas flapped in the wind ; sometimes 
the long strips fluttered across his face, whereon he 
could see a red mark like the print of a hand — the 
imprint of the hand of Narr’ Havas, the token of their 
alliance. Then Matho arose; he seized a yet smoking 
brand, and threw it contemptuously upon the wreck 
of his tent. Then with the toe of his cothurn he 
kicked into the flames the things which were scattered 
about, so that all should be consumed. 

Suddenly, without anyone knowing whence he 
sprang, Spendius appeared. The former slave had 
bound two splints of a broken lance-butt upon his 
thighs, and he limped about in a piteous way, giving 
vent to dolorous moans. 

“ Take those off,” said Matho to him. “ I know 
that you are brave ! ” He was so crushed by the 
injustice of the gods that he had not sufficient energy 
to be indignant with mortals. 

Spendius, beckoning, led him to the hollow of a 
peak, where Zarxas and Autharitus were in conceal- 
ment. 

They had taken flight like the slave — the one, cruel 
as he was, and the other despite his valour. But who, 
said they, could have expected the treason of Narr’ 
Havas, or the burning of the Libyans’ camp, or the 


254 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


loss of the Zaimph, or the sudden attack of Hamilcar, 
and above all, his manoeuvres, compelling them to re- 
turn to the heart of the mountain, under the direct 
fire of the Carthaginians ? Spendius would not 
acknowledge his terror, and persisted in the asser- 
tion that his leg was broken. 

Finally the three chiefs and the Schalischim con- 
sulted as to what course would be best in their pres- 
ent strait. 

Hamilcar had closed their road to Carthage ; they 
were trapped between his soldiers and the provinces 
of Narr’ Havas; the Tyrian towns would join the 
conquerors. They would be driven to the sea-coast; 
and all the united forces would crush them. This 
was what would inevitably befall them. 

No means suggested themselves for avoiding the 
war, hence they must pursue it to the uttermost. But, 
how could they make the necessity for an interminable 
struggle comprehensible to those discouraged people 
with their bleeding wounds? 

“ I charge myself with that,” said Spendius. 

Two hours later a man who came from the direc- 
tion of Hippo-Zarytus climbed the mountain at a run. 
He waved tablets at arm’s-length, and as he shouted 
loudly the Barbarians surrounded him. 

He bore despatches from the Greek soldiers of 
Sardinia, advising their comrades in Africa to keep 
a close watch over Gisco and the other captives. A 
merchant of Samos, a certain Hipponax, coming from 
Carthage, had apprised them that a plot was being or- 
ganised for their rescue, and the Barbarians were 
notified to provide against the emergency, as the Re- 
public was powerful. 

Spendius’ strategy did not at first succeed as he had 
anticipated. This assurance of a new peril, far from 


SALAMMBO 


255 


exciting fury, raised fears. They remembered Handi- 
caps warning, thrown but lately in their midst ; they 
now expected something unforeseen and terrible. The 
night was passed in great anxiety ; many even re- 
moved their arms, to mollify the Suffet whenever he 
might present himself. 

But on the morrow, at the third watch of the day, 
a second courier appeared, still more breathless and 
begrimed with dust than the first. Spendius jerked 
from his hands a papyrus scroll covered with Phoeni- 
cian characters, wherein the Mercenaries were sup- 
plicated not to be discouraged, for the braves of 
Tunis were coming with large reenforcements. 

Spendius read this letter three times successively; 
and sustained by two Cappadocians, who held him 
sitting upon their shoulders, he was carried from place 
to place, reading it. For seven consecutive hours he 
harangued. 

He reminded the Mercenaries of the promises made 
by the Grand Council; the Africans of the cruelties 
of the intendants; and all the Barbarians of the gen- 
eral injustice of Carthage. The Suffet’s gentleness 
was a trap to capture them. Those who surrendered 
would be sold as slaves ; the vanquished would perish 
in tortures. As for flight, what road was open? No 
nation would receive them. Whereas, if they per- 
sisted in their efforts, they would obtain at once their 
liberty, revenge, and money ! And they would not 
have to wait long, since all the people of Tunis and of 
Libya were hurrying to their assistance. 

He displayed the unrolled papyrus, saying, “ Look 
upon this ! Read ! Here is what they promise ! I do 
not lie ! ” 

Dogs prowled about, their black muzzles plastered 
with red. The high sun heated the bare heads of the 


256 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


men. A nauseous odour exhaled from the imper- 
fectly buried dead; some of the corpses protruded 
from the ground as far as the waists. Spendius called 
on them to bear witness to the truth of what he said; 
then menacingly he raised his fists in the direction of 
Hamilcar. 

Matho was watching him, and, in order to cover 
his cowardice, he made a display of anger, by which 
he was himself gradually impressed : he dedicated 
himself to the gods, while he heaped curses upon 
Carthage. “ The torture of captives was mere child’s- 
play. Why, therefore, spare them, only to drag after 
the army useless cattle ? No ! we must make an end 
of them! their projects are known. Only one escap- 
ing could betray us! No quarter! The worthy men 
will be recognised by the fleetness of their legs, and 
the strength of their blows.” 

Then they returned to the captives, many of whom 
were still in death-throes; they finished them, by 
thrusting their heels into the victims’ mouths, or 
stabbing them with javelins. Finally they thought 
of Gisco ; no one had seen him anywhere ; this caused 
them anxiety. All desired to be convinced of his 
death, and to participate in its consummation. At 
last three Samnite herdsmen discovered him at a dis- 
tance of twelve paces from the site where recently 
Matho’s tent had stood ; they recognised him by his 
long beard, and called the others. 

Lying down on his back, his arms agaihst his hips, 
and his knees pressed together, he had the appear- 
ance of one dead, laid out for the tomb. However, 
his thin sides rose and fell, and his eyes opened 
widely, contrasting with the pallor of his face, as he 
glared with a fixed, intolerable stare. 

At first the Barbarians looked at him with great 


SALAMMBO 


257 


astonishment. During the time that he had been in 
the pit almost everyone had forgotten him; disturbed 
by old memories, they stood at a distance, not daring 
to lift a hand against him. 

But those who were behind, murmured and thrust 
themselves forward; a Garamantian passed through 
the crowd, brandishing a sickle; all understood his 
intent ; their faces grew crimson, and seized with 
shame, they yelled, “ Yes! yes ! ” 

The man with the curved steel went up to Gisco, 
took him by the head, and placing it on his knee, he 
reaped it with a few rapid strokes ; it fell, and two 
great gushing jets of blood made a hole in the dust. 
Zarxas sprung upon it, and, more agile than a leop- 
ard, he ran toward the Carthaginians. 

Then, when he was two thirds up the mountain, he 
pulled Gisco’s head from his breast, and holding it by 
the beard, revolved his arm rapidly many times, and 
the head finally launched forth, describing a long 
parabola, and disappeared behind the Punic entrench- 
ments. 

Soon on the edge of the palisades were erected two 
standards intercrossed, an understood sign for re- 
claiming the dead. Then four heralds, chosen be- 
cause of their deep voices, came forward with large 
clarions, and through the brass trumpets they de- 
clared that henceforth there could be nothing be- 
tween the Carthaginians and the Barbarians, neither 
faith, nor pity, nor gods ; that they refused in advance 
all overtures, and that messengers of truce would be 
returned with their hands cut off. 

Immediately afterward, Spendius was deputed to 
Hippo-Zarytus, in order to arrange for provisions. 
The Tyrian city sent them supplies the same evening. 
They ate greedily ; and when thus comforted, they 


258 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


quickly packed up the remnants of their baggage and 
their broken weapons, placing the women in the cen- 
tre, and, without heeding the wounded wailing be- 
hind them, they set out by the river-bank at a quick 
march, like a pack of departing wolves. 

They were marching upon Hippo-Zarytus, deter- 
mined to take it, for they very much needed a town. 

Hamilcar saw the Barbarians depart from the dis- 
tance, and was filled with despair, in spite of the 
pride he felt to see them fly before him. He should 
have been able to attack them at once with fresh troops. 
Another such a day, and the war was at an end! If 
matters dragged, the enemy would return stronger, as 
the Tyrian towns would doubtless join them. His 
clemency to the vanquished had served no purpose; 
henceforth he would be merciless. 

The same evening he sent to the Grand Council a 
dromedary laden with bracelets taken from the dead; 
and, with horrible threats, he ordered that they should 
despatch another army to him. 

For a long time all had believed him to be lost, so 
that when they learned of his victory, they experi- 
enced a stupefaction that amounted almost to terror. 
The vaguely announced return of the Zaimph com- 
pleted the marvel. Thus the gods and the power of 
Carthage seemed now to belong to Hamilcar. 

Not one amongst his enemies dared venture a com- 
plaint or a recrimination. By the enthusiasm of his 
friends, and the pusillanimity of his enemies, an army 
of five thousand men was ready before the prescribed 
time. 

This reenforcement promptly made for Utica to 
support the Suffet in the rear, while three thousand 
of the most important citizens embarked on vessels 


SALAMMBO 


259 


which were to land at Hippo-Zarytus, whence they 
purposed to drive the Barbarians back. 

Hanno had accepted the command, but he confided 
the army to his lieutenant, Magdassan, in order to con- 
duct the naval forces himself, as, in consequence of his 
malady, he could no longer endure the jolting of his lit- 
ter. His disease had eaten away his lips and nostrils, 
and made a large hole in his face, so that at ten paces 
the back part of his throat was visible. Knowing that 
he was hideous, he wore a veil, like a woman, over his 
head. 

Hippo-Zarytus heeded not his summons, neither that 
of the Barbarians; but each morning the inhabitants 
lowered to them baskets filled with provisions, and call- 
ing -from the height of the towers, excused themselves 
on account of the exigencies of the Republic, and im- 
plored them to withdraw. They addressed by signs the 
same protestations to the Carthaginians stationed on 
the sea. 

Hanno contented himself with blockading the port, 
without risking an attack. Meantime, he persuaded the 
judges of Hippo-Zarytus to receive in the city three 
hundred soldiers. Afterward, he sailed toward the 
cape of Grapes, making a long detour in order to en- 
compass the Barbarians — an inopportune and even dan- 
gerous proceeding. His jealousy prevented him from 
aiding Hamilcar : he arrested the SufTet’s spies, inter- 
fered in all his plans, and compromised his enterprise. 
At length Hamilcar wrote to the Grand Council to de- 
prive Hanno of his command, and the latter was there- 
fore recalled to Carthage, furious at the baseness of 
the Elders and the folly of his colleague. Then, after 
so much hope, they found themselves in a situation 
even more deplorable ; but they all tried not to reflect or 
even speak on the topic. 


260 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


As if they had not enough misfortunes, they learned 
that the Mercenaries of Sardinia had crucified their 
general, seized the fortified towns, and everywhere had 
slain the men of Canaanite race. The Romans threat- 
ened the Republic with immediate hostilities unless she 
gave them twelve hundred talents, with the entire isl- 
and of Sardinia. Rome had accepted an alliance with 
the Barbarians, and had sent to them flat boats freighted 
with flour and dried meats. The Carthaginians pur- 
sued these, and captured five hundred men; but, three 
days later, a fleet coming from the country of Byza- 
cium, carrying provisions to Carthage, foundered in a 
storm. The gods evidently were against Carthage. 

Then the citizens of Hippo-Zarytus, pretending an 
alarm, made Hanno’s three hundred men mount on the 
walls ; then coming behind them they seized them by 
the legs, and suddenly hurled them over the ramparts. 
Those who were not instantly killed, were pursued, and 
drowned themselves in the sea. 

Utica also was suffering from the presence of sol- 
diers, for Magdassan had acted like Hanno, and ac- 
cording to his orders he surrounded the city, deaf 
to Hamilcar’s prayers. His soldiers were given wine 
mixed with mandrake, and during their sleep they 
were slaughtered. At the same time the Barbarians 
arrived, and Magdassan took flight. The gates were 
opened, and from this moment the two Tyrian towns 
showed a persistent devotion for their new friends, and 
an inveterate hatred for their former allies. 

This abandonment of the Punic cause was a warn- 
ing and an example. Hopes of future deliverance were 
rekindled. Populations heretofore uncertain, hesitated 
no longer. All gave way. The Suffet learned it, and 
expected no assistance. He was now irrevocably lost. 

He dismissed Narr’ Havas at once, for he had to de- 


SALAMMBO 


261 


fend, henceforth, the boundaries of his own kingdom. 
For his own part he resolved to return to Carthage and 
obtain soldiers to resume the war. 

The Barbarians established at Hippo-Zarytus per- 
ceived his army as it descended the mountain. 

Whither were the Carthaginians going? Doubtless 
hunger urged them ; and maddened by their sufferings, 
despite their weakness, they were coming to offer bat- 
tle. But they turned to the right : then it must be that 
they were retreating. They might be followed and ut- 
terly crushed. The Barbarians dashed in pursuit. 

The Carthaginians were retarded by the stream; it 
was swollen wide, and the west wind had not been 
blowing. Some swam across, others floated on their 
shields, and they resumed their march. Night fell. 
They were no longer visible. 

The Barbarians did not pause, but ascended the 
stream, searching for a shallow place to ford. The 
people of Tunis hastened to help, bringing those of 
Utica with them. At every clump of bushes their num- 
ber increased, and the Carthaginians, lying on the 
ground, could hear the tramp of feet in the darkness. 
From time to time, in order to make their pursuers 
slacken their pace, Barca fired back upon them a volley 
of arrows, thereby killing many. When day broke they 
were in the Mountains of Ariana, at the point where 
the road makes a bend. 

Then Matho, marching at the head of his troops, be- 
lieved that he distinguished in the horizon something 
green on the summit of an eminence. The earth sloped ; 
obelisks, domes, and houses appeared ! It was Car- 
thage! His heart beat so furiously that he leaned 
against a tree to keep from falling. 

He thought of all that had occurred in his existence 
since the last time that he had passed there ! It was an 


262 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


infinite surprise, an amazement. Then joy possessed 
him at the idea that he should again see Salammbo. 
His past reasons for execrating her flooded his mem- 
ory, but he peremptorily rejected them. Quivering in 
every fibre, and with straining eyes, he gazed beyond 
Eschmoun at the high terrace of a palace above the 
palms. An ecstatic smile illumined his face, as if some 
great radiant light had fallen over him; he opened 
his arms, and sent kisses on the breeze, murmuring, 
“ Come ! Come ! ” A sigh swelled his bosom, and two 
tears, long, like pearls, fell upon his beard. 

“ What stops you ? ” cried Spendius. “ Hasten ! 
March on ! The Suffet will escape us ! But your knees 
shake, and you look at me like a drunken man ! ” 

Stamping his feet with impatience, he urged Matho 
to advance, and blinking his eyes, as at the approach 
to an end seen far away, he cried : “ Ah ! we are there ! 
We are there ! I hold them ! ” 

He had such a convincing, triumphant air, that 
Matho, wakened out of his torpor, felt himself drawn 
on. These words coming unexpectedly in the crisis of 
his distress, drove his despair to vengeance, and made 
an opening for his wrath. He mounted one of the 
camels in the baggage train, tore off the halter, and 
with the long cord struck with his full force the lag- 
gards, running alternately from right to left in the rear 
of the troops, like a dog driving a flock. 

At his voice of thunder the men closed up the lines, 
and those on crutches hastened their steps : half-way 
across the isthmus the interval lessened. The van- 
guard of the Barbarians marched in the dust of the 
Carthaginians. The two armies drew nearer and 
nearer, until they almost touched. But the gates of 
Malqua and Tagaste, and the great gate of Khamoun, 
threw open their ponderous valves. The Punic squares 


SALAMMBO 


263 


divided ; three columns were swallowed up and eddied 
under the porches. Soon the masses closed in too much 
upon themselves, and were choked in the entrances, so 
that they could not move. Spears struck against spears 
in the air, and the Barbarians’ arrows splintered against 
the walls. 

Hamilcar appeared on the threshold of Khamoun ; 
he turned, and ordered his men to scatter ; then he dis- 
mounted, and with his sword pricked his horse on the 
crupper, letting him loose upon the Barbarians. It 
was an Orynx stallion, nourished on balls of meal, and 
would bend his knees to permit his master to mount 
him. Why, then, did he send it away? Was this a 
sacrifice ? 

The noble horse galloped amidst the lances, knock- 
ing down men ; entangling his feet in his halter, he fell, 
then struggled up on his feet with furious bounds ; and 
while they scattered, endeavoured to arrest him, or 
looked at him in surprise, the Carthaginians reunited 
and entered the enormous gate, that resoundingly 
closed behind them. 

It did not yield ; the Barbarians plunged and bat- 
tered against it ; and during the lapse of some minutes 
the entire length of the army presented an oscillation 
that became weaker and weaker, and at last entirely 
subsided. 

The Carthaginians having stationed soldiers on the 
aqueduct, began hurling stones, balls, and beams. 
Spendius acknowledged that it was useless* to persist; 
therefore they pitched their encampment at a greater 
distance from the walls, fully resolved to besiege Car- 
thage. 

The rumour of the war in the meantime had reached 
beyond the confines of the Punic dominion ; and from 


264 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


the Pillars of Hercules, to the other side of Cyrene, the 
herdsmen guarding their herds thought of it, and the 
caravans talked about it at night in the starlight. This 
noble Carthage, Mistress of the Sea, wonderful as the 
sun, awful as a god, had found men who dared to at- 
tack her ! Even her downfall had frequently been re- 
ported, and all had believed it, as all were longing for 
it — the subject peoples, tributary villages, allied prov- 
inces, and independent tribes : those who cursed her 
for her tyranny, or who were jealous of her power, or 
who coveted her wealth. 

The bravest had promptly joined themselves to the 
Mercenaries. The defeat at the Macar, however, dis- 
couraged all the others. Finally they regained con- 
fidence, and gradually making advances, had come 
nearer ; and now the inhabitants of the eastern regions, 
the sand-hills of Clypea, were located on the other side 
of the gulf. As soon as the Barbarians appeared, they 
showed themselves. 

These were not the Libyans from the vicinity of Car- 
thage, who had for a long time constituted the third 
army, but the Nomads from the plateau of Barca, ban- 
dits from Cape Phiscus and the promontory of Derne, 
and others from Phazania and Marmarica. They had 
crossed the desert, sustaining themselves by drinking 
from the brackish wells built of camels’ bones: the 
Zuseces, covered with ostrich plumes, had come in their 
quadrigae; the Garamantes, masked with black veils, 
rode in the rear on their painted mares ; others mounted 
on asses, on onagers, on zebras, or on buffaloes; and 
some dragged the roofs of their cabins, shaped like a 
shallop, with their families and idols. 

There were Ammonians, with limbs wrinkled by the 
hot water of the fountains; Atarantes, who curse the 
sun; Troglodytes, who laughingly inter their dead un- 


SALAMMBO 


265 


der branches of trees; and the hideous Auseans, who 
eat locusts ; the Achrymachidas, who eat lice ; and the 
Gysantes, painted over with vermilion, who ec.t mon- 
keys. 

All were ranged along the sea-coast in a great, 
straight line. They advanced in succession, like whirl- 
winds of sand raised by the wind. In the centre of the 
isthmus the crowd stopped; the Mercenaries estab- 
lished in front of them near the walls did not wish to 
move. 

Then from the direction of Ariana came the men of 
the west, the people of Numidia — for, in fact, Narr’ 
Havas only governed the Massylians ; and furthermore, 
as custom permitted them, after a reverse, to abandon 
their king, they had assembled on the Zainus, and at 
the first movement Hamilcar had made, they crossed 
it. First were seen running up all the hunters of the 
Malethut-Baal and of the Garaphos, dressed in lions' 
skins, and driving with the shafts of their pikes little, 
thin horses with long manes ; after these came the 
Gaetulians, encased in breast-plates of serpents’ skins ; 
then the Pharusians, wearing tall crowns made of wax 
and resin ; following these were the Caunians, Macares, 
and Tillabares, each holding two javelins and a round 
shield of hippopotamus hide. They halted at the foot 
of the Catacombs, near the first pools of the great 
Lagoon. 

But when the Libyans had moved away, on the 
ground that they had occupied there appeared, like a 
cloud, lying level with the earth, a multitude of Ne- 
groes : they had come from White-Harousch and Black- 
Harousch, from the desert of Augila, and even from the 
vast country of Agazymba, four months’ journey to 
the south of the Garamantes, and regions even more 
distant ! In spite of their redwood ornaments, the filth 


266 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


on their black skins made them look like mulberries 
that had rolled a long time in the dust. 

They wore breeches made from fibres of bark, tunics 
of dried grass, and on their heads the muzzles of wild 
animals : they howled like wolves, as they shook tri- 
angles ornamented with dangling rings, and brandished 
cow-tails on the end of sticks by way of banners. 

Behind the Numidians, the Maurusians, and the 
Gaetulians, crowded the yellow men who were scat- 
tered over the country beyond Taggir in the cedar for- 
ests. Cat-skin quivers flapped over their shoulders, 
and they led in leashes enormous dogs as tall as asses, 
which never barked. 

And then, as if Africa had not sufficiently emptied 
itself, and in order to collect together more furies, they 
had even recruited the lowest races : in the rear of all 
the others they could be seen ; men with profiles of ani- 
mals, grinning in an idiotic manner, wretches ravaged 
by hideous diseases, deformed pigmies, mulattoes of 
doubtful sex, Albinos blinking their pink eyes in the 
.sunlight — all stammering unintelligible sounds, and 
putting a finger in their mouths to signify hunger. 
The medley of weapons was not less remarkable than 
the people, or their apparel. Not a deadly invention 
was absent, from wooden poniards, stone battle-axes, 
ivory tridents, to long sabres toothed like saws, slender, 
and made of a pliable sheet of copper. They wielded 
cutlasses divided in many branches, like antelopes’ 
horns; they carried bill-hooks attached to cords, iron 
triangles, clubs, and stilettoes. 

The Ethiopians of Bambotus secreted in their hair 
tiny poisoned darts. Many had brought stones in 
sacks; others, who were empty-handed, gnashed their 
teeth. 

A continual surging moved this multitude. Dro- 


SALAMMBO 


267 


medaries, daubed with tar like the hulls of ships, 
knocked over the women who carried their children 
on their hips. Provisions were spilling out of their 
baskets ; and in walking one stepped on morsels of rock 
salt, packages of gum, rotten dates, and gourou-nuts. 
Sometimes on a bosom covered with vermin could be 
seen, suspended from a fine cord, a diamond, a fabu- 
lous gem worth an entire empire, for which satraps 
had sought. The majority of these people did not even 
know what they desired : a fascination, a curiosity 
urged them : the Nomads, who had never seen a town, 
were frightened by the shadows cast by the massive 
walls. 

The isthmus was obscured by this multitude of men, 
and the long stretch of tents, resembling cabins during 
an inundation, spread out to the first lines of the other 
Barbarians, who were streaming with steel, and sym- 
metrically posted on the two flanks of the aqueduct. 

The Carthaginians were still in terror of those who 
had already arrived, when they saw, making straight 
for Carthage, huge monsters, like edifices, with their 
shafts, weapons, cordage, articulations, capitals, and 
carapaces- — the siege engines sent by the Tyrian cities: 
sixty carrobalistas, eighty onagers, thirty scorpions , 
fifty tollenones , twelve rams, and three gigantic cata- 
pults, able to throw rocks weighing fifteen talents. 
Masses of men clutched at their base, pushed and 
pulled to propel the engines, that quivered and shook 
at each step : in time the throng arrived in front of the 
walls. 

But a few days would still be required to complete 
the preparations for the siege. The Mercenaries, fore- 
warned by their previous defeats, did not wish to risk 
themselves in fruitless engagements; and on neither 
side was there any hurry, as all knew that a terrible 


268 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


conflict was about to ensue, which would result either 
in absolute victory or complete extermination. 

Carthage would hold out for a long time ; her broad 
walls offered a series of salient, and reentering angles 
— an arrangement full of advantages for repelling as- 
saults. 

However, on the side of the Catacombs a portion of 
the wall had crumbled; and during dark nights, be- 
tween the disjointed blocks could be seen lights in the 
dens of Malqua. In certain places these overlooked 
the top of the ramparts, and here lived many who had 
taken for new Svives the women of the Mercenaries 
driven by Matho out of the camp. When the women 
saw their own men, their hearts melted, and they waved 
from the distance long scarves ; then they came in the 
darkness to chat with the soldiers through the rift in 
the walls, and the Grand Council were told one morn- 
ing that they had all fled. Some had crawled between 
the stones; others, more daring, had descended by 
ropes. 

Spendius finally resolved to accomplish his cherished 
project. 

The war, by keeping him at a distance, had, up to 
this time, debarred him from it; and since they had 
returned before Carthage, it seemed to him that the 
townsmen suspected his enterprise; but soon they 
diminished the sentinels on the aqueduct, as they did 
not possess too many guards for the defence of the 
walls. During many days the former slave practised 
aiming arrows at the flamingoes on the lake shore. 
Then one moonlight evening he entreated Matho to 
have lighted in the middle of the night a huge bonfire 
of straw, and order all his men simultaneously to utter 
shrieks; then taking Zarxas, he went off by the edge 
of the gulf in the direction of Tunis. 


SALAMMBO 


269 


When abreast of the last arches, they returned, go- 
ing straight toward the aqueduct. As the road was 
exposed, they crept along to the base of the pillars. 
The sentinels on the platform patrolled calmly. 

High flames shot up ; clarions were sounded. The 
soldiers in the watch-towers, believing that it was an 
assault, rushed toward Carthage. 

One man remained. He stood like a black figure 
against the dome of the sky ; the moonlight was behind 
him, and his disproportionate shadow fell on the plain, 
like a moving obelisk. They waited until he was ex- 
actly in front of them. Zarxas seized his sling, but 
Spendius stopped him, moved by prudence or ferocity, 
and whispered : “ No ! the whirring of the ball would 
make a noise ! Leave it to me ! ” Then he bent his 
bow with all his might, supporting the end against his 
left instep, took aim, and the fatal arrow flew. 

The man did not fall. He disappeared. 

“ If he were wounded we should hear him,” said 
Spendius, and he sprang quickly up, story after story, 
as he had done the first time, by the aid of the harpoon 
and cord. When he reached the top, beside the corpse, 
he let the cord fall. The Balearian fastened to it a 
pick and mallet, and returned. The trumpets no long- 
er sounded : all was now perfect quiet. Spendius had 
lifted one of the flagstones, entered the water, and re- 
placed the stone over himself. 

Estimating the distance by paces, he reached the 
exact spot where he had previously noticed a slanting 
fissure, and for three hours — in fact, till morning — he 
worked continuously and furiously, breathing with 
great difficulty through the interstices of the upper 
stones ; racked with violent pains, twenty times he be- 
lieved he was dying. 

At last a cracking was heard, an immense stone 


270 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


bounded on the lower arches and rolled down to the 
bottom— and all at once a cataract, an entire river, fell 
as from the sky into the plain ! The aqueduct, cut in 
the centre, was emptying itself. This meant the death 
of Carthage and the victory of the Barbarians. 

In an instant, the aroused Carthaginians appeared on 
the walls, the house-tops, and the temples. The Bar- 
barians gave vent to joyous shouts, dancing around the 
vast waterfall in delirium, and in the enthusiasm of 
their delight wetted their heads in the rushing water. 

At the summit of the aqueduct a man was perceived 
wearing a torn, brown tunic. Leaning over the edge, 
his hands upon his hips, he gazed beneath him, as 
if astonished at his own work. 

Then he stood erect, scanning the horizon with a 
proud, haughty air, which seemed to say — “ Behold ! 
this is what I have accomplished ! ” Applause burst 
from the Barbarians. At last the Carthaginians com- 
prehended the cause of their disaster, and howled in 
despair. Spendius ran from end to end of the plat- 
form, mad from pride, raising his arms, like the driver 
of a victorious chariot in the Olympian games. 


CHAPTER XIII 

MOLOCH 

O N the side toward Africa the Barbarians did 
not need to circumvallate, as it was already 
theirs ; but to make the approach to the walls 
less difficult they tore down the entrenchments bor- 
dering the moat. Matho then divided the army into 
large semi-circles, so as tc more effectually beleaguer 


SALAMMBO 


271 


Carthage. The hoplites of the Mercenaries were sta- 
tioned in the front rank ; behind them, the slingers and 
horsemen; behind were the^baggage, the chariots, and 
the horses ; and in front of this multitude, at three hun- 
dred paces from the towers, bristled the war-engines, 
known by an infinity of names that changed frequently 
in the course of ages; however, they could always be 
reduced to two systems — those which acted like slings, 
and the others which operated like bows. 

The first, the catapults, consisted of a square frame 
with two vertical standards and a horizontal bar. At 
its anterior portion a cylinder furnished with cables 
held down a large beam carrying a ladle to receive the 
projectiles; the base of the beam was caught in a hank 
of twisted horse-hair ; when the cords were loosened, 
the beams flew up, struck against the bar, which, check- 
ing it by a sudden shock, multiplied its force. 

The second system was a more complicated mechan- 
ism. On a small pillar a cross-piece was attached by 
its centre, at which point ended a channel at right an- 
gles to it: at the ends of the cross-piece rose two 
frames, containing a twisted hank of hair: two small 
beams were fastened therein to hold the extremities 
of the cord, which was drawn to the bottom of the 
channel over a bronze tablet ; by a spring, this plate of 
metal was released, and sliding over grooves, shot out 
the arrows in all directions. 

Catapults were frequently called onagers, because 
they were like wild asses which throw stones by kick- 
ing ; and the ballistas were called scorpions because of 
a hook fastened on the tablet, which, on being lowered 
with a blow of the fist, disengaged the spring. 

Their construction required expert calculation. The 
timber selected had to be of the hardest grain ; the 
gearing was all of brass. They were stretched with 


272 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


levers, pulleys, capstans, or drums; strong pivots 
changed the direction of their aim. They were moved 
forward on cylinders ; and those of the largest size, 
which were transported in sections, were set up in 
front of the enemy. 

Spendius placed the three large catapults opposite 
the three principal angles ; before each gate he placed 
a ram, before each tower a ballista ; and farther back 
were wheeled the carrobalistcz. But it was necessary 
to prevent their being fired on by the besieged, and also 
to fill up the trench which separated them from the 
walls. 

They pushed forward galleries made of green wat- 
tles and oaken ribs, like enormous shields sliding on 
three wheels ; little cabins, covered with fresh hides and 
padded with wrack, sheltered the workmen: The cata- 
pults and ballistas were protected by curtains of rope 
that had been soaked in vinegar to render them incom- 
bustible. The women and children went to the beach 
to gather stones, which they collected with their hands 
and brought to the soldiers. 

The Carthaginians also made preparations for the 
siege. 

Hamilcar had reassured them, by declaring that 
there yet remained enough water in the cisterns for one 
hundred and twenty-three days. This statement, his 
presence in their midst, and the recovery of the Za'imph, 
above all, imparted great hope. Carthage recovered 
from her dejection, and those who were not of Canaan- 
ite origin were carried away by the enthusiasm of the 
others. 

The slaves were armed, the arsenals emptied, each 
citizen had his allotted post and employment. Twelve 
hundred of the refugees had survived : the Suffet made 
them all captains ; and the carpenters, armourers, black- 


SALAMMBO 


273 


smiths, and the silversmiths were appointed to super- 
intend the engines. The Carthaginians had retained 
some, notwithstanding the conditions of the Roman 
peace. Understanding their construction, they repaired 
them readily. 

The northern and eastern sides, being protected by 
the sea and the gulf, were inaccessible. On the wall 
facing the Barbarians were piled up trunks of trees, 
mill-stones, vases -full of sulphur, and vats full of oil, 
and furnaces were built. Stones were heaped up on 
the platforms of the towers, and the houses immedi- 
ately connecting with the rampart were crammed with 
sand to increase its strength and thickness. 

The sight of all these preparations angered the Bar- 
barians. They wanted to engage in combat at once. 
The weights they put into the catapults were of such 
an exorbitant size that the beams broke, thereby de- 
laying the attack. 

Finally, on the thirteenth day of the month of Scha- 
mar, at sunrise, a tremendous blow was heard at the 
gate of Khamoun. 

Seventy-five soldiers were hauling ropes arranged at 
the base of a gigantic beam horizontally suspended by 
chains, descending from a gallows, and terminating in 
a brazen ram’s head. It was swathed in hides; bands 
of iron encircled it from place to place, and it was 
three times thicker than a man’s body, one hundred 
and twenty cubits long, and it advanced or receded 
under the crowd of naked arms, pushing it forward or 
hauling it backward, with a regular swing. 

The rams before the other gates also began to move ; 
in the hollow wheels of the drums men might be seen 
ascending step by step. Pulleys and capitals creaked ; 
the rope screens were lowered, and volleys of stones 
and arrows simultaneously shot forth. All the scat- 


274 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


tered slingers ran up; some of them approached the 
ramparts, carrying hidden under their shields pots of 
ignited resin ; then they hurled them with all their 
might upon the enemy. The terrific hail of balls, 
darts, and fire passed beyond the front ranks, forming 
a curve which fell within the walls. But on their sum- 
mits were erected huge cranes such as were used 
for masting vessels ; from them descended enormous 
pinchers, ending in two semicircles, toothed on the in- 
side edge. These bit the rams. The soldiers, clinging 
to the beam, dragged it back. The Carthaginians 
panted in their efforts to haul it up, and the struggle 
continued till evening. 

When the Mercenaries resumed their task the next 
day they found the tops of the walls packed with bales 
of cotton, cloth, and cushions ; the battlements were 
closed with mattings, and between the cranes could be 
distinguished lines of pitchforks and sharp blades set 
in sticks. A furious resistance began immediately. 

Tree-trunks fastened to cables fell and rose alter- 
nately, battering the rams ; grappling-irons, shot by the 
ballistas, tore the roofs off the cabins; and from the 
platforms of the towers fell torrents of flint and 
pebbles. 

At length the rams burst the gate of Khamoun and 
that of Tagaste; but the Carthaginians had heaped the 
inner side with such an abundance of materials that 
the leaves could not open : they remained upright. 

Tenebras were then forced against the walls, and 
applied to the joints of the massive blocks until they 
were loosened. The engines were handled better be- 
cause their crews worked in relays ; from morning till 
evening they plied uninterruptedly, with the monot- 
onous precision of a weaver’s loom. 

Spendius never tired attending to these engines. He 


SALAMMBO 


275 


personally tautened the cordage of the ballistas. In 
order that there should be an exact equality in their 
twin tensions, their cords were wound up and struck in 
turn on the right and left side till both sounded in uni- 
son. Spendius mounted on their frames, and delicately 
tapped them with the end of his foot, straining his ear, 
like a musician tuning a lyre. Then when the beam 
of the catapult rose, when the pillar of the ballista 
trembled at the shock of the spring, as the stones 
poured out in streams, and the arrows darted forth like 
rays, he leaned his entire body over the platform, 
throwing his arms up in the air, as if he would follow 
the flight of the missiles. 

Admiring his skill, the soldiers willingly obeyed his 
orders. In the gaiety of their labour they made jokes 
on the names of the engines. Thus the plyers for seiz- 
ing the rams were called “ wolves,” and the covered 
galleries, “vines”; they were lambs, they were going 
to the vintage; and as they were loading their pieces 
they would say to the onagers, “ Go now, kick well ! ” 
— and to the scorpions, “ Pierce through the enemies’ 
hearts ! ” This facetiousness, always the same, sus- 
tained their courage. 

Still, the engines did not demolish the rampart. It 
was formed of a double wall and completely filled with 
earth ; they battered down its upper works, but the be- 
sieged each time raised them again. Matho ordered 
the construction of wooden towers of an equal height 
with the enemies’ stone towers. Into the moat were 
thrown turf, stakes, and chariots with the wheels on, 
to fill it up more rapidly ; before it was completed the 
immense crowd of Barbarians undulated over the plain 
in a single movement, and advanced to beat against the 
base of the walls like an inundating sea. 

They brought forward rope-ladders, straight ladders, 


276 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


and sambuca, which consisted of two masts from which 
were lowered by tackles a series of bamboos ending in 
a movable bridge. They were in numerous straight 
lines, supported against the walls, and the Mercenaries 
mounted them in file, one after another, holding their 
weapons in their hands. Not one Carthaginian ap- 
peared until they had attained two thirds of the height 
of the ramparts. Then the battlements opened, vomit- 
ing forth like dragons’ jaws fire and smoke; sand scat- 
tered, filtering through the joints of their armour; the 
petroleum fastened on their clothing, the molten lead 
skipped over their helmets, burning cruel holes in their 
flesh ; a shower of sparks flashed into their faces — and 
eyeless orbits seemed to weep tears as large as almonds. 
The hair of some, yellow with oil, was blazing. They 
started to run, and set the others on fire. From a dis- 
tance cloaks soaked in blood were thrown over their 
faces and extinguished the flames. Some who were 
not wounded remained motionless, stififer than stakes, 
with open mouth and both arms thrown out in the last 
agony. 

For many successive days the assault continued, the 
Mercenaries hoping to triumph by excess of force and 
audacity. 

Sometimes a man, standing on the shoulders of an- 
other, would drive an iron pin between the stones to 
serve as a step to reach higher, where he drove a sec- 
ond, and a third, and so on, protected by the overhang- 
ing battlements ; in this way they gradually climbed up : 
but always at a certain height they were smitten and 
fell. The broad ditch became so full of human beings 
that it overflowed; under the feet of the living the 
wounded were heaped pell-mell with the dead and dy- 
ing. Amid entrails, oozing brains, and pools of blood, 
calcined trunks made black spots; arms and legs, half 


SALAMMBO 277 

protruding from the heap, stood straight up like vine- 
stakes in a burning vineyard. 

As the ladders proved insufficient, they employed 
the tollenones — instruments consisting of a long beam 
placed transversely on an upright post, and carrying 
at the extremity a square basket, which held thirty foot- 
soldiers fully equipped. 

Matho wanted to ascend in the first that was ready, 
but Spendius prevented him. 

Men turned a small wheel, and responsively the large 
beam became horizontal, then reared itself almost ver- 
tically; but being too heavily laden at the end, it bent 
like a reed. The soldiers, concealed up to their chins, 
crowded together; nothing but their helmet plumes 
could be seen. Finally, when the basket was fifty cubits 
in the air, it swayed from right to left several times, 
then fell ; and like the arm of a giant holding on his 
hand a cohort of pigmies, it deposited on the edge of 
the wall the basketful of men. They leaped out in the 
midst of the enemies, but never returned. 

All the other tollenones were speedily prepared; but 
it would require a hundred times as many to capture 
the town. They were utilised in a murderous manner : 
Ethiopian archers were ordered in the baskets ; then 
the cables were so adjusted that they should remain sus- 
pended in mid-air, while the occupants fired poisoned 
arrows. The fifty tollenones thus dominated the bat- 
tlements surrounding Carthage like monstrous vul- 
tures, and the Negroes laughed to see the guards on 
the ramparts dying in horrible convulsions. 

Hamilcar despatched hoplites thither, and made them 
each morning drink the juices of certain herbs which 
were antidotes for poisons. 

One evening, during a dark period, Hamilcar em- 
barked the best of his soldiers on lighters and rafts, and 


278 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


turned to the right of the harbour, landing on the 
Taenia. From there they advanced as far as the first 
lines of the Barbarians, and, taking them in the flank, 
made a terrible carnage. Men suspended by ropes de- 
scended the walls during the night, and set fire to the 
Mercenaries’ works, remounting in safety. 

Matho was enraged; each obstacle, in fact, plunged 
him deeper in wrath, causing him to do terrible and ex- 
travagant things. Mentally he entreated Salammbo for 
a rendezvous ; then waited for her. She did not come : 
this was a new treason, and henceforth he cursed her. 
Perhaps if he had seen her dead body he might have 
gone away. 

He doubled his outposts, planted pitchforks at the 
base of the rampart, buried caltrops in the ground, and 
commanded the Libyans to bring to him an entire fin- 
est, in order to set fire to Carthage and burn it like a 
den of foxes. 

Spendius persisted in the siege, striving to invent 
frightful machines such as had never been constructed 
before. The other Barbarians who were encamped at 
a distance on the isthmus were amazed at these delays. 
They complained ; they were let loose. 

Then they rushed forward, battering against the 
gates with their cutlasses and javelins. But the naked- 
ness of their bodies made it easy to wound them, and 
the Carthaginians freely massacred them, while the 
Mercenaries rejoiced over it, doubtless from greed of 
the plunder. There resulted quarrels and contentions 
between themselves. The country being now laid 
waste, they were stung by hunger and soon were wrest- 
ing the provisions from each other. They became dis- 
couraged. Numerous hordes went away; but the crowd 
was so dense that their absence was not noticed. 

The best of the men endeavoured to dig mines ; the 


SALAMMBO 


279 


ground, badly propped, caved in; then they would be- 
gin again elsewhere. Hamilcar always discovered the 
direction of their operations by applying his ear to a 
bronze shield. He dug counter-mines under the road 
over which the wooden towers had to be wheeled, so 
that when they were moved they would sink in the 
holes. 

At length all acknowledged that the city was im- 
pregnable unless they erected a long terrace to the 
height of the city walls, permitting them to fight on the 
same level ; the top should be paved, in order to facili- 
tate the moving of the engines. Then Carthage could 
not possibly resist. 

The town was suffering from thirst. Water sold at 
the outbreak of the siege at two kesitah a barrel now 
brought a shekel of silver. The supplies of meat and 
grain were also becoming exhausted ; they feared a 
famine ; some even spoke of useless mouths, which ter- 
rified everyone. 

From the square of Khamoun as far as the temple of 
Melkarth, corpses cumbered the streets; and as it was 
the end of summer, large black flies pestered the com- 
batants. Old men carried the wounded off the field, 
and the devout continually performed fictitious funeral 
rites for their relatives and friends who had died far 
away during the wars. Statues of wax with hair and 
clothes were laid out before the house entrances. They 
melted in the heat of the tapers burning close to them, 
and the paint trickled down over their shoulders ; and 
tears coursed the cheeks of the living as they intoned 
sad hymns beside these effigies. The crowd meanwhile 
ran hither and thither ; troops were constantly passing ; 
captains shouted orders, and the shocks of the rams 
battering the rampart were constantly heard. 


280 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


The temperature became so heavy that the corpses 
swelled and could not be placed in the coffins, so they 
were burned in the middle of the courts. These fires 
in the narrow spaces ignited the neighbouring walls, 
and long flames suddenly escaped from the houses, like 
blood spurting from an open artery. Thus Moloch 
possessed Carthage, he embraced the ramparts, he 
rolled through all the streets, and he consumed the 
dead. 

Men who wore in sign of despair mantles of rags, 
stationed themselves at the corners of the streets, de- 
claiming against the Elders and against Hamilcar, pre- 
dicting total ruin for the people, and inviting them to 
general destruction and license. The most dangerous 
were the drinkers of henbane, who in their crises fan- 
cied themselves to be wild beasts, and sprang upon the 
passers-by, to tear them to pieces. Mobs collected 
around them, forgetting the defence of Carthage. The 
Suffet conceived the idea of paying others of their 
class to support his policy. 

In order to retain the Genii of the gods in the town, 
their images were covered with chains, black veils were 
thrown over the DU P atari, and hair cloths around the 
altars. Endeavours were made to excite the pride and 
jealousy of the Baals by dinning in their ears, “ You 
will be conquered ! The other gods are more powerful 
than you ! Show your might ! Aid us ! that the peoples 
may not say, ‘ Where are now their gods ? ’ ” 

A constant anxiety disturbed the pontiffs ; those of 
Rabbetna were especially alarmed, for the reestablish- 
ment of the Zaimph had not sufficed ; they remained se- 
questered in the third enclosure, as impregnable as a 
fortress ; only one of their number, the high priest, 
Schahabarim, risked going out. 

He went to Salammbo’s palace, but remained silent, 


SALAMMBO 


281 


ever looking at her with fixed gaze ; or else pouring 
upon her words of reproach, harder than ever. 

By an inconceivable inconsistency, he could not par- 
don this young girl for having obeyed his orders. 
Schahabarim had divined all — and this besetting idea 
strengthened the jealousy of his impotency. He ac- 
cused her of being the cause of the war. Matho, ac- 
cording to his account, was besieging Carthage to re- 
capture the Zaimph ; and he poured forth imprecations 
and sarcasms upon this Barbarian for essaying to pos- 
sess sacred things. That, however, was not what the 
priest desired to say. 

But Salammbo had no further terror of the priest. 
The agonies she formerly suffered had all vanished, 
being replaced by an ineffable calm ; even her gaze was 
less wandering, and burned with a limpid light. 

Meanwhile the Python had again fallen ill, and as, 
on the contrary, Salammbo appeared to recover, the 
aged Taanach rejoiced over it, feeling sure that by its 
decline it had taken the weakness from her mistress. 

One morning the slave found it behind the cow-hide 
couch, coiled up on itself, colder than marble, its head 
covered by a mass of worms. At her screams Sa- 
lammbo came. She turned it over for some time with 
the toe of her sandal ; her indifference amazed the 
slave. 

Hamilcar’s daughter no longer fasted with her 
former fervour or rigour. She spent whole days on 
the top of her terrace, leaning on her elbows over the 
balustrade, amusing herself watching the objects be- 
fore her. The top of the walls at the end of the town 
cut against the sky irregular zig-zags, and the senti- 
nels’ lances all along formed what looked like a bor- 
der of corn-ears. Beyond, between the towers, she 
could see the manoeuvres of the Barbarians. On days 


282 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


when the siege was suspended she could even distin- 
guish their occupations, as they mended their weap- 
ons, or oiled their hair, or washed their blood-stained 
arms, in the sea. Their tents were closed, and the 
beasts of burden were eating; far away the scythes 
of the chariots, ranged in a semicircle, looked like a 
silver scimitar extended at the base of the hills. 

Schahabarim’s talk revolved through her brain. 
She waited for her betrothed, Narr’ Havas. Despite 
her hatred, she had a wish to see Matho again. Of 
all the Carthaginians, she was, perhaps, the only per- 
son who would have spoken to him without fear. 

Frequently her father came into her room and sat 
on the cushions, considering her with an air almost 
tender, as if he found in looking at her an im- 
munity from his fatigues. Sometimes he questioned 
her as to the incidents of her journey to the camp of 
the Mercenaries, asking her if no one had by chance 
compelled her to go thither; and with a shake of the 
head, she answered, “ No,” so proud was Salammbo 
of having rescued the Zaimph. 

But the Suffet always reverted to Matho, under the 
pretext of acquiring military information. He could 
not understand how she had employed the hours 
passed in his tent. Salammbo did not mention Gisco ; 
for as words contain in themselves an effective power, 
curses that are repeated to anyone else might return 
to their injury. She likewise kept silent concerning 
her impulse to assassinate Matho, fearful lest she 
should be censured for not having yielded to it. She 
said that the Schalischim appeared furious, that he 
had shouted a good deal, and afterward went to 
sleep. Salammbo told nothing more, perhaps from 
shame, or possibly from an excess of innocence, 
which caused her to attach no importance to the 


SALAMMBO 


283 


kisses of the soldier. Besides, it all floated through 
her melancholy and misty brain like the remembrance 
of an overpowering dream, and she would not have 
known in what manner or by what words to ex- 
press it. 

One evening, when father and daughter were thus 
facing each other in conversation, Taanach, all amaze- 
ment, entered, announcing that an old man, accom- 
panied by a child, was in the courts, and asking to see 
the Suffet. 

Hamilcar turned pale, but promptly replied : 

“ Let him come up.” 

Iddibal entered, without prostrating himself, hold- 
ing by the hand a young boy covered with a cloak of 
goat’s skin, and at once raising the hood which con- 
cealed the boy’s face, said : 

“ Here he is, master! Take him! ” 

The Suffet and the slave retired to a corner of the 
room. The boy remained standing in the centre with 
a gaze more attentive than astonished; he looked at 
the ceiling, the furniture, the pearl necklaces hung 
over purple draperies, and at the majestic maiden 
who leaned forward toward him. 

He was, perhaps, ten years old, and no taller than 
a Roman sword ; his curly hair overshadowed his con- 
vex forehead ; his eyes seemed to penetrate space ; his 
thin nostrils dilated widely, and over all his per- 
son was that indefinable splendour characterising 
those beings destined for grand careers. When he 
had thrown aside his heavy cloak, he remained clad 
in a lynx-skin fastened around his waist, and stood 
resolutely pressing his small, bare feet, white with 
dust, upon the pavement. Doubtless he surmised that 
important topics were being discussed, as he main- 
tained a motionless posture, holding one hand behind 


284 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


his back, his chin lowered and a forefinger in his 
mouth. 

At last Hamilcar attracted Salammbo’s attention by 
a sign, and said in a low voice : 

“Keep him with you. Do you understand? No 
one, not even of the household, must know of his ex- 
istence.” 

Then, behind the door, he again asked Iddibal if 
he were certain that no one had noticed them. 

“No one,” said the slave; “the streets were de- 
serted.” 

As the war filled all the provinces, he had feared 
for the safety of his master’s son. Then, not know- 
ing where to hide him, Iddibal had brought him 
along the coast in a shallop, and for three days they 
had cruised about in the gulf, watching the ramparts; 
finally, that evening, when the neighbourhood of 
Khamoun seemed deserted, he had ventured to quickly 
cross the channel and land in the vicinity of the ar- 
senal — the entrance to the harbour being free to all. 

But soon the Barbarians established, opposite it, an 
immense raft, to prevent the Carthaginians getting 
out. They built up the proposed terrace, and erected 
the wooden towers. 

Communication between the towns and the outside 
was cut off, and an intolerable famine began. 

All the dogs, mules, and asses were killed ; and then 
the fifteen elephants that the Suffet had brought back. 
The lions of the temple of Moloch became savage, 
and the keepers no longer dared approach them ; at 
first they were fed with wounded Barbarians; then 
corpses yet warm were thrown to them; but these 
they refused ; and finally they all died. At twilight 
people wandered along the old enclosures, gathering 
from between the stones grasses and flowers, which 


SALAMMBO 


285 


they boiled in wine, as wine was less costly than 
water. Others slipped up to the outposts of the 
“nemy, and, crawling under the tents, stole food. 
Sometimes the Barbarians were so stupefied by this 
audacity that they allowed them to return. 

At length a day came when the Elders resolved to 
slaughter the horses of Eschmoun privately ; they were 
sacred animals in whose manes the Pontiffs braided 
gold ribbons, and whose existence signified the move- 
ments of the sun — the idea of fire in its most exalted 
form. Their flesh was divided into equal portions, 
and hidden behind the altar; then every evening the 
Elders, alleging some religious service, ascended to 
the temple, regaled themselves in secret, and each 
brought back, concealed under his tunic, some morsel 
for his children. 

In the deserted quarters distant from the walls, the 
less miserable inhabitants, from fear of the others, 
had barricaded themselves. 

The stones from the catapults, and the demolitions 
ordered for their defences, had accumulated heaps of 
ruins in the streets. 

During the most peaceful hours, masses of people 
would suddenly rush out, yelling at the top of their 
voices ; and from the top of the Acropolis fires ap- 
peared, like purple rags blown by the wind, dispersed 
over the terraces. 

The three great catapults did not stop: their rav- 
ages were extraordinary ; a man’s head rebounded 
from the pediment of the Syssites ; in the street of 
Kinisdo a woman in childbirth was crushed by a 
block of marble, and her infant, with her couch, was 
carried as far as the forum of Cynasyn, where the 
coverlet was found. 

The slingers’ bullets proved to be the most vexa- 


286 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


tious missiles ; these fell upon the roofs, into gardens, 
and in the middle of courtyards, where people were at 
table before their meagre repasts, with their hearts 
heavy with anguish. These horrible projectiles were 
engraved with letters that Jeft an imprint on the vic- 
tim’s flesh ; on the dead could be read such appella- 
tions as " swine ” “ jackal ” “ vermin ” and sometimes 
such pleasantries as “catch!” or “I have quite de- 
served it!” 

That portion of the rampart extending from the 
angle of the harbours abreast of the cisterns was 
battered in. Then the people of Malqua found them- 
selves caught between the old enclosure of Byrsa in 
the rear, and the Barbarians in front. Hamilcar had 
enough to do to strengthen the wall and raise it as 
high as possible, without troubling himself about the 
troubles of these people. They were abandoned, and 
all perished ; and although they were generally hated, 
in consequence of this desertion the Carthaginians 
conceived a great abhorrence of Hamilcar. 

The following day he opened the pits wherein he 
had stored his corn : his intendants gave it freely to 
the people. For three days they gorged themselves. 
Their thirst in consequence became more intolerable, 
and they always' saw before them the long cascade of 
pure water falling from the aqueduct : while under the 
sunshine, the fine mist floated up from its base with a 
rainbow beside it, and a little serpentine stream curved 
over the plain and emptied itself into the gulf. 

Hamilcar did not weaken, for he was counting upon 
an event — something decisive and extraordinary. His 
own slaves tore off the silver plates from the temple 
of Melkarth. Four long boats were taken from the 
harbour and dragged by means of capstans to the foot 
of Mappals, the wall abutting on the shore was bored, 


SALAMMBO 


287 


and they departed to Gallia, to hire Mercenary sol- 
diers at any price. 

Nevertheless Hamilcar was disturbed at his in- 
ability to communicate with the Numidian king, as 
he knew full well that he was stationed behind the 
Barbarians, and ready to fall upon them. But Narr’ 
Havas’s forces were too weak to risk making any 
venture alone. 

The SufFet had the rampart heightened twelve 
palms, all the munitions of war in the arsenals col- 
lected in the Acropolis, and the engines repaired once 
more. 

They were wont to use for the cordage of the cata- 
pults tendons taken from the necks of bulls, or else 
stags’ hamstrings ; but in Carthage there were no 
longer either bulls or stags. Hamilcar demanded 
from the Elders their wives’ tresses ; and though all 
made the sacrifice, the quantity was insufficient. 
There were, in the buildings of the Syssites, twelve 
hundred marriageable slaves, intended for prostitu- 
tion in Greece and Italy, and their hair had become 
peculiarly elastic from the constant use of unguents, 
and was admirably suited for the war machines. But 
afterward the loss would be too considerable. Then 
it was determined to select the finest heads of hair 
among the wives of the plebeians. Indifferent to 
their country’s needs, all the women cried out in de- 
spair when the servitors of the Hundred came with 
scissors to lay hands upon them. 

An increased fury animated the Barbarians, for 
from a distance they could be seen taking fat from the 
dead, to oil their machines, and pulling out the finger 
and toe nails of the corpses, which they sewed one 
over-lapping another, to make breastplates for them- 
selves. 


288 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


They conceived the idea of charging their catapults 
with vases full of serpents brought by the Negroes; 
these clay vessels shattered, in falling upon the flag- 
stones, and the serpents crawling about were so nu- 
merous that they seemed to swarm, and to come 
naturally out of the walls. Discontented with this in- 
vention they improved upon it, and threw all kinds 
of filth — such as human excrement, morsels of car- 
rion, and corpses — upon their enemy. The plague 
broke out. The teeth of the Carthaginians dropped 
out, and their gums became discoloured, like those of 
camels after too protracted a journey. 

The Barbarians’ war machines were mounted upon 
the new terrace, even though it failed as yet to reach 
at every point the height of the rampart. In front 
of the twenty-three towers on the fortifications were 
erected twenty-three wooden towers ; all the tolle- 
nones were remounted, and in the centre, a little fur- 
ther back, loomed up the formidable helepolis of 
Demetrius Poliorcetes, which Spendius had at last 
reconstructed. Pyramidal, like the lighthouse at 
Alexandria, it was one hundred and thirty cubits high 
and twenty-three wide, with nine stories diminishing 
towards the top; they were protected by brass scales 
pierced by numerous sally-ports, and filled with sol- 
diers; on the topmost stage a catapult flanked by two 
ballistas was erected. 

Hamilcar planted crosses upon which to crucify all 
those who talked of surrender. Even the women 
were formed in brigades. People slept in the streets, 
and waited, full of anguish. 

Then one morning, a little before sunrise, on the 
seventh day of the month of Nyssan, they heard a 
loud shout uttered simultaneously by all the Barba- 
rians ; the lead trumpets blared, and the great Papilla- 


SALAMMBO 


289 


gonian horns bellowed like bulls. There was an im- 
mediate rush for the rampart. 

A forest of lances, pikes, and spears bristled at 
its base; it leaped against the walls, ladders were 
grappled on, and in the openings of the battlements 
Barbarians’ heads appeared. 

Beams, carried by long files of men, battered the 
gates; and in places where the terrace was wanting, 
the Mercenaries, in order to breach the wall, came 
up in close cohorts, the first line crouching down, 
the second bending their hips, while the others rose 
in succession, by gradual inclinations of their bodies, 
until the last stood bolt upright; while elsewhere, to 
climb up, the tallest advanced at the head, the shortest 
in the rear ; and they all supported with their left 
arms above their helmets their shields, locked together 
so tightly by the rims that they appeared like an as- 
semblage of large tortoises. The projectiles slid over 
these slanting masses. 

The Carthaginians hurled mill-stones, pestles, vats, 
casks, couches, everything, in fact, that could make a 
weight and crush. Some watched in the embrasures 
with fishing nets, and when a Barbarian came up he 
found himself caught in the meshes, and struggled 
like a floundering fish. They themselves demolished 
their own battlements ; portions of the walls fell down, 
stirring up a blinding dust. The catapults on the 
platform and those on the ramparts shot one against 
the other, the stones clashed together and shattered 
into a thousand fragments, falling in a wide shower 
upon the combatants. 

Soon the two crowds formed but one thick chain of 
human bodies, overflowing into the intervals of the 
terrace, and a little relaxed at the two ends, swayed 
perpetually without advancing. 


290 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


They grappled each other, lying flat on the ground 
like wrestlers, and were crushed. Women leaned 
over the battlements and shrieked. They were 
dragged forward by their veils, and the whiteness of 
their sides, suddenly uncovered, shone between the 
arms of the Negroes, as they plunged their daggers 
into them. 

Some corpses were too closely packed in the crowd 
to fall, but, borne up by the shoulders of their com- 
rades, they moved forward for some minutes quite 
upright, their eyes staring wide open. 

Some, pierced through both temples with javelins, 
swayed their heads like bears; their mouths opened 
to scream, -but remained silently agape ; severed hands 
flew through the air. There were mighty blows, of 
which the survivors spoke many a long day afterward. 

Meanwhile arrows darted from the tops of the 
wooden and stone towers. The long yards of the 
tollenones moved rapidly; and as the Barbarians had 
pillaged the ancient cemetery of the Autochthones 
beneath the Catacombs, they hurled the tombstones 
upon the Carthaginians. Under the weight of the 
baskets, too heavily laden, the cables sometimes broke, 
and numbers of men, wildly throwing up their arms, 
fell from the sky. 

Until the middle of the day the veterans of the 
hoplites had fiercely attacked the Taenia, in order to 
penetrate into the harbour and destroy the fleet. 
Hamilcar had lighted on the roof of Khamoun a fire 
of humid straw, the smoke from which blinded them ; 
they fell back to the left, increasing the horrible crowd 
which pressed forward in Malqua. Some syntagmas, 
composed of strong men expressly chosen, had forced 
three of the gates. Then high barriers, constructed 
with boards studded with nails, barred their way; a 


SALAMMBO 


291 


fourth entrance readily yielded ; they darted beyond, 
and ran forward, only to roll into a pit in which snares 
had been hidden. 

At the south-east angle Autharitus and his men 
beat down the rampart, the fissure of which had been 
stopped up with bricks. The ground behind rose ; 
they slowly climbed up, but found on top a second 
wall, composed of stones and long beams lying flat, 
alternating like the squares on a chess-board. This 
was a Gallic method adapted by the Suffet to the re- 
quirements of the situation. The Gauls thought 
themselyes in front of a town of their own country. 
Their attack was languidly made, and they were re- 
pulsed. 

From the street of Khamoun to the Vegetable 
Market, now belonged to the Barbarians, and the 
Samnites finished the dying with blows of their 
spears, or else with one foot on the wall contem- 
plated beneath them the smoking ruins, and the battle 
which had begun again in the distance. 

The slingers distributed in the rear fired inces- 
santly, but from long use the springs of the Acar- 
nanian slings were broken, so, like shepherds, many 
slung the stones with their hands ; others shot the 
lead balls with the handles of whips. Zarxas, with 
his long black hair covering his shoulders, was every- 
where and led on the Baleares ; two pouches were sus- 
pended from his hips ; into one he kept plunging his 
left hand, while his right arm whirled like the wheel 
of a chariot. 

Matho had at first withheld from the combat, to 
command more effectually all his forces at once. He 
had been seen along the gulf shore with the Merce- 
naries ; near the Lagoon with the Numidians ; then on 
the shore of the lake amongst the Negroes; at the 


292 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


end of the plain he pushed forward masses of sol- 
diers, who came incessantly against the line of the 
fortifications. Gradually he drew nearer; the odour 
of blood, the sight of carnage, and the fanfare of 
clarions, had finally made his heart bound. Then he 
entered his tent, threw aside his cumbersome breast- 
plate, taking instead his lion-skin, which was more 
convenient for battle. The muzzle fitted on his head, 
and surrounded his face with a circle of fangs ; the 
two fore-paws crossed over his breast, and the claws 
of the hind-paws reached down to his knees. 

He kept on his strong waist-belt, in which flashed 
a double-edged battle-axe ; then, holding his large 
sword in both hands, he plunged impetuously through 
the breach. Like a pruner lopping off willow 
branches, endeavouring to cut as many as possible 
in order to gain the more money, he moved about, 
mowing down Carthaginians on all sides of him. 
Those who tried to seize him by the sides he knocked 
down with blows of the pommel of his sword ; when 
they attacked him in front he pierced them through; 
and if they took flight he slashed them down. 

Two men simultaneously jumped upon his back: 
he jumped backward at one bound against a door, 
crushing them. His sword rose and fell ; at last it 
shattered against an angle of the wall. Then he took 
his heavy axe, and from behind and in front he dis- 
embowelled the Carthaginians like a flock of sheep. 
They scattered more and more before him ; slaying 
right and left, he arrived alone, before the second en- 
closure, at the foot of the Acropolis. 

Materials that had been flung from the summit en- 
cumbered the steps, and overflowed beyond the walls. 
Matho, in the midst of these ruins, turned around to 
call his comrades ; he saw their crests scattered 


SALAMMBO 


293 


through the multitude — they were being surrounded : 
they would perish. He dashed toward them; then 
the vast crowd of red plumes uniting, quickly re- 
joined and surrounded him. But the side streets dis- 
gorged an enormous throng, and he was taken up by 
his hips and carried away to the outside of the ram- 
part, to a spot where the terrace was high. 

Matho shouted a command: all the shields were 
levelled above the helmets ; he leaped on them to catch 
hold of something that might enable him to scale the 
walls and reenter Carthage, and brandished his ter- 
rible battle-axe as he ran over the shields, that re- 
sembled bronze waves, like a marine god on the bil- 
lows shaking his trident. 

Meanwhile a man in a white robe walked on the 
edge of the rampart, impassive and indifferent to the 
death surrounding him. At times he extended his right 
hand to shade his eyes, as if he sought for some one. 
Matho passed beneath him. All at once his eyes 
flamed, his livid face contracted, and, lifting his 
meagre arms, he shouted out words of abuse. 

Matho heard them not; but he felt a look so cruel 
and furious enter his heart that he gave vent to a 
moan. He hurled his long axe toward this man ; 
people threw themselves about Schahabarim, and 
Matho, losing sight of him fell backward exhausted. 

A fearful creaking drew near, mingled with the 
rhythm of hoarse voices singing in unison. 

A vast throng of soldiers surounded the helepolis; 
they dragged it with both hands, hauled it with ropes, 
and pushed it with their shoulders — for the slope ris- 
ing from the plain to the platform, though it was ex- 
tremely gentle, proved impracticable for machines of 
such prodigious weight. It had eight iron-bound 
wheels, and since morning it had advanced thus slowly ; 


294 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


it was like a mountain being elevated to the top of a 
mountain. 

From the base of this machine an enormous ram 
projected; along the three sides facing the city the 
doors were lowered, and inside appeared mailed sol- 
diers, like iron columns, who could be seen climbing 
and descending the two stairways that traversed the 
stories. Some of these men were in readiness to spring 
the moment the grapples of the doors should touch the 
wall. In the middle', of the upper platform the skeins 
of the ballistas were turning and the great beam of the 
catapult kept descending. 

Hamilcar was at this moment standing on the roof 
of Melkarth; he judged that the beam would come di- 
rectly toward him, against the most invulnerable por- 
tion of the wall, which on that account was denuded 
of sentinels. For a long time his slaves had been car- 
rying leather water-bottles to the circular road, where 
two transverse partitions of clay had been constructed 
to form a sort of basin. The water insensibly ran over 
the terrace, and yet Hamilcar did not seem to be dis- 
turbed by this waste. 

But when the helepolis was about thirty paces off, 
he commanded that boards should be placed between 
the houses over the streets, from the cisterns to the 
rampart, and that the people should form in a file and 
pass from hand to hand helmets and anaphoras filled 
with water, that were continually emptied. The Car- 
thaginians waxed indignant at this extravagant waste of 
water. The ram was demolishing the wall ; suddenly a 
fountain sprang up from the disjointed stones, and the 
brazen structure of nine stages, containing more than 
three thousand soldiers, began to sway gently, like a 
ship rocking on the billows. 

In fact, the water had penetrated the terrace and 


SALAMMBO 


295 


undermined the road before the machine ; the wheels 
were imbedded in mire. Between the leather curtains 
on the first stage, Spendius’s head appeared, blowing 
lustily through an ivory horn. The mammoth ma- 
chine convulsively moved about ten more paces ; but 
the ground became softer and softer, the mire reached 
up to the axle-trees, then the huge helepolis stopped, 
leaning frightfully on one side. The catapult rolled 
to the edge of the platform, and, carried away by the 
weight of its beam, toppled off, crushing the lower 
stages in pieces beneath it. The soldiers who were 
standing in the doors slid into the abyss, or held on to 
the extremities of the long beam, and by their weight 
increased the inclination of the helepolis , which was 
now going to pieces and cracking in all its joints. 

The other Barbarians rushed- to the rescue, crowding 
in a compact mass. The Carthaginians descended over 
the rampart and attacked them from behind, killing 
them at their ease. But the chariots armed with 
scythes came speedily up, galloping around the outside 
of this multitude, causing them to remount the walls. 
Night fell, and the Barbarians gradually retired. 

Nothing could be seen over the plain but a black, 
swarming mass, from the bluish gulf to the glittering 
white Lagoon ; and the lake, into which streams of 
blood had flowed, spread out beyond like a great purple 
pool. 

The terrace was now so encumbered with corpses 
that it might have been constructed out of human 
bodies. In the centre stood the helepolis covered with 
armour, and from time to time enormous fragments 
became detached from it, like stones from a crumbling 
pyramid. Broad tracks made by the streams of molten 
lead could be distinguished on the walls; a burning 
wooden tower here and there had tumbled over, and 


296 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


the houses appeared dimly like the tiers in a ruined 
amphitheatre. Heavy clouds of smoke curled up, 
through which whirled trails of sparks that lost them- 
selves in the black sky. 

Meantime, the Carthaginians, who were consumed 
by thirst, had rushed to the cisterns. They broke open 
the doors : a muddy swamp spread over the bottom. 

What could be done now ? The Barbarians were in- 
numerable, and when they had recovered from their 
fatigue, would begin again. 

All night the people deliberated in groups at the 
corners of the streets. Some said that they must send 
away the women, the sick, and the aged. Others pro- 
posed to abandon the town, and establish a new colony 
far away. But ships were wanting; the sun rose and 
no decision had been reached. 

That day there was no fighting, everyone being ex- 
hausted. The people slept as if they were dead. 

When the Carthaginians reflected upon the cause of 
their disasters, they remembered that they had neg- 
lected to send to Phoenicia the annual offering due to 
the Tyrian Melkarth, and an immense terror came 
over them. The gods were indignant with the Re- 
public, and would doubtless pursue her with vengeance. 

The divinities were considered in the light of cruel 
masters, only to be appeased with supplications, and 
bribed by gifts. All were weak before Moloch — the 
devourer. Human existence, even the flesh of man- 
kind, belonged to him; therefore, to preserve it, the 
Carthaginians' were wont to offer a portion of it to 
him, which calmed his wrath. Children were burned 
on their foreheads, or on the nape of their necks, with 
woollen wicks ; and this custom of seeking to satisfy 
the Baal brought considerable money to the priests; 


SALAMMBO 


297 


they rarely failed to recommend the easiest and least 
painful method of sacrifice. 

But now it was a question of the very existence of 
the Republic. And as every profit must be purchased 
by some loss, and every transaction is regulated by 
the requirements of the weaker and the demands of 
the stronger, there was no suffering too great for the 
god, since he took delight in the most horrible, and 
they all were now at his mercy. He must therefore 
be completely satiated. Precedents showed that car- 
nal sacrifices to him had compelled the scourge to dis- 
appear. Besides, it was believed an immolation by 
fire would purify Carthage. The ferocity of the peo- 
ple was in favour of it beforehand, inasmuch as the 
choice of victims must fall exclusively on the grand 
families. 

The Elders assembled. Their session was long. 
Hanno was present, but as he was now unable to sit 
up, he remained lying near the entrance, half hidden 
in the fringes of the lofty tapestry; and when the 
pontiff of Moloch asked if those convened consented 
to deliver up their children, his voice suddenly broke 
forth from the shadows as the roaring of a spirit out 
of the depths of a cavern. He regretted, he said, 
that he had none of his own blood to give, and he sig- 
nificantly looked at Hamilcar, who faced him at the 
other end of the hall. 

The Suffet was so disturbed by this gaze that he 
lowered his eyes. All approved by nodding their 
heads successively ; and, according to the rites, he 
had to reply to the high priest, “Yes, so be it!” 
Then the Elders decreed the sacrifice by a traditional 
periphrasis— for there are things more troublesome to 
speak than to execute. 

Almost immediately this decision was made known 


298 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


throughout Carthage, and lamentation resounded. 
Everywhere the women were heard crying ; their 
husbands either consoled them or heaped invectives 
upon them for offering remonstrance. 

Three hours afterward extraordinary news was 
spread among the people : the Suffet had discovered 
springs at the base of the cliff. All rushed to the 
place ; holes had been dug in the sand, showing water ; 
and already some were lying flat on their bellies 
drinking. 

Hamilcar did not himself know whether it was an 
inspiration from the gods or the indistinct recollection 
of a revelation his father had formerly made to him ; 
but, on leaving the conference of Elders, he had gone 
down to the beach with his slaves, and begun digging 
in the gravel. 

He distributed clothing, shoes, and wine, and the 
balance of the grain stored in his vaults ; he even 
made the populace enter his palace, opening the 
kitchens, magazines, and all the rooms except Sa- 
lammbo’s. He announced that six thousand Gallic 
Mercenaries were coming, and that the king of Mace- 
donia was also sending soldiers. 

On the second day after the discovery of the 
springs, the volume of water had considerably dim- 
inished, and on the evening of the third day they were 
completely dry. Then the Elders’ former decree cir- 
culated anew on all lips, and the priests of Moloch 
began preparations for the sacrifice. 

Men in black robes presented themselves at the 
houses ; many of the inhabitants had deserted them 
on pretence of business, or of some dainty that they 
must buy. The servitors of Moloch took the children. 
Others, stupidly scared, delivered them up. They 
were all conveyed to the temple of Tanit, to the 


SALAMMBO 


299 


priestesses, who were ordered to amuse and feed them 
until the solemn day. 

They arrived suddenly at Hamilcar’s palace, and 
finding him in his gardens, said : 

“ Barca ! we come for that you know of — your 
son ! ” They added, that some people had met the 
boy one night during the last moon, in the middle of 
Mappals, led by an old man. 

At first he felt as if suffocating; but quickly realis- 
ing that denial would be in vain, he inclined his head, 
and introduced them into his house of commerce. 
His slaves, at a gesture from him, ran to keep watch 
around it. 

He entered Salammbo’s room, bewildered, seized 
Hannibal by one hand, and with the other tore from 
a trailing robe some strings, with which he fastened 
the boy’s hands and feet together, placing the ends 
of the strings in his mouth as a gag, and hid him 
under the cowhide couch, arranging some wide dra- 
pery so that it fell all about the couch to the floor. 

Then he paced the room from right to left, raised 
his arms, turned around, bit his lips; then he halted, 
with his eyes fixed, and gasping as if he were dying. 

At length, he clapped his hands three times. Gid- 
denem appeared. 

“ Listen ! ” said he. “ Go and take from amongst 
the slaves a male child of eight or nine years, with 
black hair and projecting forehead! Bring him here! 
Hasten!” 

Giddenem soon returned, and presented a boy. 

He was a wretched child, at the same time thin 
and bloated ; his skin greyish, like the loathsome rags 
that clung to his loins. He hung his head, and rubbed 
his eyes, which were full of flies, with the back of his 
hands. 


300 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ How could anyone possibly take him for Han- 
nibal ! and there is no time to choose another ! ” 
Hamilcar looked at Giddenem with the desire to 
strangle him. 

“ Go ! ” cried he ; and the Master of Slaves fled. 

The sorrow which the Suffet had for so long a 
time apprehended had come, and he sought with im- 
measurable efforts to discern if there were no man- 
ner, no way of averting it. 

Abdalonim spoke from the other side of the door : 
the servitors of Moloch were becoming impatient, 
and asked for the Suffet. 

Hamilcar suppressed a cry ; he experienced a pang 
akin to the seething burn from a red-hot iron ; he 
began anew to pace the floor like a madman ; then he 
sank down near the balustrade, and with his elbows 
on his knees, pressed his temples between his clenched 
hands. 

The porphyry basin still contained a small quantity 
of clean water for Salammbo’s ablutions. Despite 
his repugnance and' all his pride, the Suffet plunged 
the child into the basin, and like a slave merchant 
washed and scrubbed the boy with strigils and red 
earth. Then he took from the cases surrounding the 
walls two squares of purple; of these he put one on 
the child’s breast, the other on his back, pinning them 
over the collar-bone with two diamond agrafes; he 
poured perfumes over his head, clasped an electrum 
necklace around his throat, and thrust his plebeian 
feet into sandals with pearl heels — his daughter’s own 
sandals ; but he stamped with shame and anger. 
Salammbo, who was earnestly assisting him, was 
quite as pale as he. The child smiled, pleased with 
these splendours, and even growing bolder, began to 
clap his hands and jump, when Hamilcar led him forth. 


SALAMMBO 


301 


He held him firmly by the arm, as if he feared 
he should lose him ; and the child, hurt by the fierce 
grasp, whimpered slightly as he ran beside the Sufifet. 

Abreast of the ergastulum, under a palm tree, a 
voice rose, a lamenting, supplicating voice, murmur- 
ing, “ Master ! oh, master ! ” 

Hamilcar turned, and saw at his side a man most 
abject in appearance — one of the wretches who lived 
a haphazard existence in his gardens. 

“What do you want?” asked the Sufifet. The 
slave, trembling horribly, stammered: 

“ I am his father ! ” 

Hamilcar kept on walking ; the slave followed, with 
bent back, and head thrust forward; his face was 
convulsed by an indescribable agony, and his sup- 
pressed sobs stifled him, so anxious was he at once to 
question him and to cry out “ Mercy ! ” 

At length he dared to touch the Suffiet’s elbow 
lightly with one finger. 

“ Do you take him to the ... ? ” He had not the 
strength to finish, and Hamilcar stopped, amazed at 
such grief. 

He had never thought — so immense was the gulf 
separating the one from the other — that there could 
be anything in common between them. It even ap- 
peared to him to be a sort of outrage, an encroach- 
ment on his own privileges. He replied by a look, 
colder and heavier than the axe of an executioner; 
the slave fainted and dropped in the dust at his feet. 
Hamilcar stepped over him. 

The three black-robed men waited in the great hall, 
standing against the stone disc. All at once the Sufifet 
tore his garments, and rolled upon the stones, uttering 
sharp cries. 

“ Ah ! poor little Hannibal ! Oh ! my son ! my con- 


302 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


solation ! my hope ! my life ! kill me also ! Take me ! 
Misery ! misery ! ” he ploughed his face with his fin- 
ger-nails, and tore out his hair, howling like the 
mourners at funerals. “Take him away! I suffer 
too much ! Go ! go ! kill me with him ! ” The servi- 
tors of Moloch were astonished that the great Hamil- 
car possessed such a faint heart. They were almost 
touched. 

Just then, the noise of naked feet was heard, and 
with a jerking rattle, like the panting of a ferocious 
beast when running in pursuit, on the threshold of 
the third gallery, between the ivory door-posts, a man 
appeared, pallid, terrible, with outstretched arms, 
screaming : 

“ My child ! ” 

With a bound Hamilcar fell upon him, covering his 
mouth with his hands, and exclaiming still more 
loudly : 

“ He is the old slave who reared Hannibal ! he calls 
him ‘ my child ’ ! he will become mad ! Enough ! 
enough ! ” And pushing out the three priests and 
their victim, he went out with them, and closed the 
door behind him with a tremendous kick. 

For some time Hamilcar listened attentively, fear- 
ing they might return. He next thought of killing 
the slave, to make quite sure of his not speaking ; but 
the peril had not completely passed, and his death, if 
the gods were angered at it, might return upon his 
own son. Then changing his purpose, he sent to him 
by Taanach the best things from his kitchen — a quar- 
ter of a goat, some beans, and preserved pomegran- 
ates. The slave, who had not eaten for a long time, 
flung himself upon the food, whilst his tears fell into 
the dishes. 

Hamilcar now returned to Salammbo, and un- 


SALAMMBO 


303 


knotted Hannibal’s cords. The child was in such a 
state of exasperation that he bit the Suffet’s hand 
until he drew blood ; he repressed him with a caress. 

To keep the boy quiet, Salammbo tried to frighten 
him with stories of Lamia — an ogress of Cyrene. 
“ Where then is she ? ” he asked. He was told that 
the brigands would come to put him in prison; to 
which he replied, “ When they come I shall kill 
them.” 

Hamilcar then told him the frightful truth, but he 
grew angry with his father, declaring that he was able 
to exterminate the people, since he was the master of 
Carthage. 

At last, exhausted by his struggles and anger, he 
slept a savage sleep, talking in his dreams, as he lay 
with his back propped up against a scarlet pillow, his 
head thrown a trifle backward, and his little arm ex- 
tended out straight from his body in an imperious 
attitude. 

When the night grew dark Hamilcar lifted the child 
in his arms, and descended the stairway of the gal- 
leys without a torch. In passing through the com- 
mercial house he took a bunch of grapes and a jug 
of pure water. The child awakened before the statue 
of Aletes, in the vault of gems, and smiled, as the 
other child had smiled, in the arms of the Suffet, at 
the splendours surrounding him. 

Hamilcar was very certain that no one could now 
take his son. It was an impenetrable spot, communi- 
cating with the shore by a subterranean passage, that 
he alone knew : he cast his eyes about him, inhaling 
a long breath, and placed the boy on a stool beside 
some golden shields. 

No one at present could see them ; he had nothing 
more to heed, and he gave way to his feelings. Like 


304 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


a mother who finds her lost firstborn, he embraced 
his son, pressing him to his heart ; he laughed and 
wept at the same time, called him by the most endear- 
ing names, and covered him with kisses. Little Han- 
nibal, frightened by this terrible tenderness, remained 
silent. 

Hamilcar returned with slow steps, feeling along 
the walls around him, until he reached the large hall, 
wherein the moonlight entered through one of the 
slits in the dome : in the middle the slave slept, lying 
at full length on the marble. He regarded him, and 
was moved by a kind of pity. With the toe of his 
buskin he pushed a rug under his head. Then he 
lifted his eyes and gazed at Tanit, whose slender 
crescent was shining in the sky. He felt himself 
stronger than the Baals, and full of contempt for 
them. 

The preparations were already being made for the 
sacrifice. 

A portion of the wall in the temple of Moloch was 
removed in order to pull the brazen god through 
without disturbing the ashes on the altar. As soon 
as the sun rose the sacred slaves of the temple pushed 
it to the square of Khamoun. 

It moved backward, sliding over cylinders ; its 
shoulders overtopped the walls ; from the farthest dis- 
tance the Carthaginians who perceived it fled with 
speed, for the Baal could not be contemplated with 
impunity save in the exercise of his wrath. 

An odour of aromatics was wafted through the 
streets. All the temples were thrown open simul- 
taneously, and tabernacles upon chariots, or on litters 
which pontiffs carried, came forth. Great plumes of 
feathers nodded at their corners, and rays flashed 


SALAMMBO 


305 


from their pointed spires, terminated by globes of 
crystal, gold, silver, or copper. 

These were the Canaanitish Baalim, reproductions of 
the supreme Baal, returning towards their essence to 
humble themselves before his might, and be lost in 
his magnificence. The canopy of Melkarth, of fine 
purple, sheltered a flame of bitumen oil ; while upon 
that of Khamoun, which was of hyacinth colour, was 
erected an ivory phallus bordered with a circle of 
gems: between the curtains of Eschmoun, blue as the 
ether, a python slept, describing a circle with its tail ; 
and the Dii-Patceci, held in the arms of their priests, 
their heels dragging on the ground, resembled large 
infants in swaddling clothes. 

Following came all the inferior forms of divinity: 
Baal-Samin, god of celestial spaces ; Baal-Peor, god 
of sacred mountains ; Baal-Zeboub, god of corruption ; 
and those of the neighbouring countries and of cog- 
nate races : the Iarbal of Libya ; the Adrammelech of 
Chaldea; the Kijun of the Syrians; Derceto, with her 
maiden’s face, creeping upon her fins ; and the body of 
Tammouz was transported on a catafalque between 
torches and heads of hair. To subdue the kings of 
the firmament to the sun, and prevent their individual 
influence from impeding his, metal stars of divers 
colours were brandished on the ends of long staves. 
In this collection all were found, from the black Nebo, 
which was the genius of Mercury, to the hideous Ra- 
hab, the constellation of the Crocodile. 

The Abaddirs, stones fallen from the moon, re- 
volved in silver filigree slings; small loaves represent- 
ing the female sex were carried in baskets by the 
priests of Ceres ; others brought their fetiches, their 
amulets; forgotten idols reappeared; and they had 
even taken from the ships their mystic symbols, as 


306 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


though Carthage was desirous to concentrate herself 
completely in one thought of death and desolation. 

Before each of the tabernacles a man balanced on 
his head a vase of smoking incense; cloudlets hov- 
ered here and there, and through the dense vapours 
could be discerned the hangings, the pendants, and 
the embroideries of the sacred pavilions. 

In consequence of their enormous weight, they ad- 
vanced slowly. The axle-trees of the chariots occa- 
sionally got caught in the narrow streets; then the 
devotees profited by the opportunity to touch the 
Baalim with their clothing, which they afterwards 
preserved as something sacred. The brazen statue 
continued to advance towards the square of Khamoun. 
The Rich, carrying sceptres with emerald balls, started 
from the far end of Megara ; the Elders, crowned 
with diadems, assembled in Kinisdo; and the masters 
of finance, the governors of provinces, merchants, 
soldiers, sailors, and the numerous horde employed 
at funerals, all displaying the insignia of their magis- 
tracy or the instruments of their calling, converged 
towards the tabernacles that descended from the 
Acropolis between the colleges of pontiffs. 

In deference to Moloch, they were all adorned with 
their most splendid jewels. Diamonds sparkled on 
their black apparel; but their rings, now too large, 
fell loosely from their emaciated hands, and nothing 
could be more mournful than that silent concourse, 
where brilliant ear-rings touched against pallid faces, 
and where gold tiaras encircled . foreheads wrinkled 
by a profound despair. 

Finally the Baal attained the centre of the square. 
His pontiffs made an enclosure with trellises to keep 
back the multitude, and prostrated themselves at his 
feet, surrounding him. 


SALAMMBO 


307 


The priests of Khamoun, in reddish woollen robes, 
aligned before their temple under the columns of the 
portico; these of Eschmoun, in white linen mantles, 
with necklaces of the heads of hoopoes and conical 
tiaras, established themselves on the steps of the 
Acropolis ; the priests of Melkarth, in violet tunics, 
took their position on the western side; the priests of 
the Abaddirs, encircled in bands of Phrygian stuffs, 
placed themselves on the eastern side ; and ranged on 
the southern side with the necromancers, all covered 
with tattooings, were the shriekers in patched mantles, 
the priests of the Dii-Patceci, and the Yidonim, who 
foretold the future by placing a bone of a dead body 
in their mouths. The priests of Ceres, habited in blue 
robes, had prudently stopped in Satheb street, and 
were intoning in a low voice a thesmophorion in Me- 
garian dialect. 

From time to time files of men arrived, completely 
naked, with arms stretched out, holding each other by 
the shoulders, giving vent from the depths of their 
chests to hoarse, cavernous intonations; their eyes 
were turned toward the Colossus, which glittered 
through the dust, and at intervals they swayed their 
bodies all together, as if shaken by a single movement. 
These men were so frenzied that, in order to establish 
quiet among them, the sacred slaves struck them 
roughly with clubs, making them lie flat on the 
ground with their faces against the brazen trellises. 

At this moment, from the back of the square, a man 
in a white robe came forward. As he slowly pene- 
trated the throng, he was recognised as a priest 
of Tanit — the high-priest Schahabarim. Yells were 
raised, for the tyranny of the male principle prevailed 
upon this occasion in all minds, and the goddess was 
so completely forgotten that no one had even noticed 


308 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


the absence of her pontiffs. But the amazement re- 
doubled when her high-priest was seen to open one 
of the gates of the trellis, intended only to admit those 
who would offer victims for the sacrifice. 

The priests of Moloch, believing that he came to of- 
fer an insult to their god, with violent gestures endeav- 
oured to expel him. Nourished as they were by the 
viands of the holocausts, clothed in purple like kings, 
and wearing triple crowns, they held in contempt this 
pale eunuch priest, attenuated by macerations; an in- 
solent laughter shook their black beards, spread out 
over their breasts in the sunlight. 

Schahabarim, without response, continued to walk 
forward, crossing, step by step, the whole enclosure, 
until he arrived beneath the legs of the Colossus ; then 
he threw out his arms and touched it on both sides: 
this was a solemn act of adoration. 

For a long period the Rabbet had tortured him, and 
in despair, or perhaps for need of a god completely 
satisfying his thoughts, he had decided at last to ac- 
cept Moloch. 

The crowd, shocked by this apostacy, uttered a pro- 
longed murmur. There was a feeling that the last tie 
had been severed that attached their souls to a merciful 
Deity. 

But Schahabarim, because of his mutilation, could 
not participate in the cult of the Baal. The men in red 
mantles expelled him from the enclosure; then, when 
he was outside, he turned around to all the other col- 
leges successively, and the priest, now having no god, 
disappeared in the crowd, which scattered at his ap- 
proach. 

Meantime a fire of aloes, cedar, and laurel wood 
burned between the legs of the Colossus. Its long 
wings buried their points in the flame; the unguents 


SALAMMBO 


309 


with which it had been rubbed trickled like sweat over 
its brazen limbs. About the circular stone on which its 
feet rested, children, enveloped in black veils, formed a 
motionless circle; and its inordinately long arms al- 
lowed the palms of the hands to reach down to them, 
as if to seize this crown and convey it to the sky. 

The Rich, the Elders, the women, and in fact the 
entire multitude, thronged behind the priests, and on 
the terraces of the houses. The large, painted stars 
revolved no longer; the tabernacles were set on the 
ground, and the smoke from the censers rose on high 
perpendicularly, like gigantic trees spreading their blu- 
ish boughs to the centre of the azure. Many fainted ; 
others became inert and petrified in their ecstasy; in- 
finite agony oppressed their hearts. The noises one by 
one died out, and the people of Carthage waited in si- 
lence, absorbed in the terror of their desire. 

At last the high-priest of Moloch passed his right 
hand beneath the children’s veils, and pulled out a lock 
of hair from each of their foreheads, which he threw 
into the flames. Then the men in red mantles intoned 
a sacred hymn : 

“ Homage to thee, O Sun ! King of the two Zones ! 
Creator, self-begotten ! Father and Mother ! Father 
and Son ! God and Goddess ! Goddess and God ! ” 
and their voices were lost in the outburst of countless 
instruments, sounding in unison to smother the cries 
of the victims. The scheminith with eight strings, the 
kinnor with ten, and the nebel with twelve, all twanged, 
whistled, and thundered forth. Enormous leathern bot- 
tles stuck full of tubes made a sharp, clashing noise; 
the tambourines, beaten with all possible force, re- 
sounded with heavy, rapid blows ; and despite the fury 
of the clarions, the salsalim clicked like the wings of 
locusts. 


310 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


The sacred slaves with a long hook opened the seven 
compartments contained in the body of the Baal. Into 
the highest division meal was introduced ; into the sec- 
ond, two turtle-doves ; into the third, an ape ; into the 
fourth, a ram ; into the fifth, a lamb ; and into the sixth, 
as they did not possess an ox, a tanned hide from the 
sanctuary was substituted; the seventh aperture re- 
mained gaping and empty. 

Before a human victim should be offered, it was well 
to test the arms of the god. Slender chainlets, passing 
from the fingers over the shoulders, descended at the 
back ; these men pulled downward, raising to the 
height of its elbows two open hands that, in approach- 
ing each other, closed over its belly. They worked 
them several times successively with little jerks. Then 
the musical instruments were dumb, and the fire roared 
fiercely. 

The pontiffs of Moloch walked to and fro on the 
large stone slab, inspecting the multitude. 

The first offering must be an individual sacrifice, an 
oblation perfectly voluntary, which would include the 
others along with it. But no one came forward, and 
the seven alleys leading from the barrier to the Colos- 
sus remained completely empty. To stimulate the peo- 
ple, the priests pulled from their girdles little stilettoes, 
with which they slashed their faces. The Devotees, 
who were stretched on the ground outside, were 
brought into the enclosure, and a bundle of horrible 
irons was thrown to them : each one chose his torture. 
They passed spits through their breasts, slit their 
cheeks, put upon their heads crowns of thorns ; then 
they enlaced their arms together, and surrounding the 
children, they formed another great circle, ever con- 
tracting and expanding. When they reached the balus- 
trade, they threw themselves back, only to eddy out- 


SALAMMBO 


311 


ward again, continually attracting to them the crowd, 
by the dizziness of their movements, accompanied by 
blood and cries. 

Gradually the people, thus incited, came into the 
end of the alleys, and threw into the flames, pearls, gold 
vases, cups, all their treasures, and torches. 

These offerings became more and more splendid, and 
kept multiplying. Presently a man who staggered, a 
man pale and hideous from terror, thrust forward a 
child ; then could be distinguished between the hands of 
the Colossus a little black mass — it disappeared into the 
dark opening. The priests leaned over the edge of 
the large slab, and a new chant burst out, celebrating 
the joys of death and of new birth into eternity. 

The children mounted slowly, and as the smoke rose 
in lofty, whirling masses, they seemed from afar to 
disappear in a cloud. Not one moved. All had been 
bound hand and foot, and the dark drapery prevented 
them from seeing anything, and from being recognised. 

Hamilcar, in a red mantle, like the priests of Moloch, 
stood near the Baal, upright before the great toe of its 
right foot. When the fourteenth child was put in, all 
saw that he made a gesture of horror ; but quickly re- 
suming his attitude of composure, he crossed his arms, 
and gazed on the ground. On the other side of the 
Colossus the grand pontiff likewise remained motion- 
less, bowing his head, upon which was an Assyrian 
mitre, and watching on his breast the gold plaque cov- 
ered with prophetic stones, which threw out iridescent 
•lights as the flame struck across them. He grew pale 
and abstracted. 

Hamilcar inclined his head, and they were both so 
near the funeral pyre that the hem of their robes in ris- 
ing from time to time swept it. 

Moloch’s brazen arms moved more rapidly; they no 


312 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


longer paused. Each time a child was placed upon 
them, the priests of Moloch extended their hands over 
the victim to lay upon it the sins of the people, vocifer- 
ating : 

“ These are not men, but oxen ! ” and the multitude 
around repeated, “ Oxen ! Oxen ! ” The Devotees 
screamed out, “ Lord! Eat! ” and the priests of Pro- 
serpine, conforming in terror to Carthage’s need, mum- 
bled their Eleusinian formula : “ Pour forth rain ! con- 
ceive ! ” No sooner were the victims placed on the edge 
of the aperture than they vanished, like a drop of water 
on a red-hot plate, and white smoke curled up through 
the scarlet glow. 

Yet the appetite of the god was not appeased: he 
still wanted more. In order to supply him, the children 
were piled on his hands, and were held there by a great 
chain. 

In the beginning, Devotees tried to count them, in 
order to see if the total number corresponded to the 
days of the solar year ; but now so many were piled on 
that it was impossible to distinguish them in the dizzy 
motion of those horrible arms. All this lasted a long 
time, until nightfall. Then the interior divisions gave 
a sombre glare. For the first time, the burning flesh 
was visible. Some even fancied that they recognised 
hair, limbs, and entire bodies. 

Night fell; clouds gathered over the head of the 
Baal. The pyre, now flameless, made a pyramid of 
glowing embers that reached to his knees ; and all crim- 
son, like a giant covered with blood, with head bent 
backward, he seemed to reel under the weight of his 
intoxication. According as the priests hastened, the 
frenzy of the people increased; as the number of vic- 
tims diminished, some cried out to spare them, others 
that Moloch must have more. It seemed as if the 


SALAMMBO 


313 


walls, with their masses of spectators, would crumble 
beneath the yells of horror and of mystic voluptuous- 
ness. Then came into the passages some faithful ones, 
dragging their children, who clung to them ; and they 
beat the little hands to make them loose their hold, that 
they might deliver them to the red men. 

Occasionally the musicians stopped from sheer ex- 
haustion ; and in the lull could be heard the screams of 
mothers and the crackling of the grease falling on 
the coals. The mandrake-drinkers crept on all-fours 
around the Colossus, roaring like tigers. The Yidonim 
prophesied ; the Devotees sang with their cleft lips. 
The trellis-work was broken, for all wanted to partici- 
pate in the sacrifice ; and fathers whose children were 
long since deceased cast into the yawning furnace 
their effigies, toys, and preserved bones. Those who 
possessed knives rushed upon the others ; they cut each 
other’s throats in their voracious rage. The sacred 
slaves, with bronze winnowing-baskets, took from the 
edge of the stone slab the fallen cinders, which they 
tossed high in the air, that the sacrifice should be dis- 
persed over the entire city, and ascend to the region of 
the stars. 

The tumultuous noise and vast illumination had at- 
tracted the Barbarians to the very foot of the walls. 
Climbing upon the ruins of the helepolis, to have a bet- 
ter view, they looked on, gasping with horror. 


314 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


CHAPTER XIV 

THE PASS OF THE BATTLE-AXE 

A LMOST before the Carthaginians had time to 
reach their homes the clouds gathered thickly, 
and those who looked up towards the Colossus 
felt great drops — and the rain fell. 

All night it rained unceasingly — in floods ; the thun- 
der growled; it was the voice of Moloch triumphant 
over his vanquishment of Tanit; and being now fe- 
cundated, she opened from high heaven her vast breast. 
Occasionally she was seen in a luminous light extended 
on pillows of clouds, then the darkness reclosed, as 
though, still too weary, she would sleep again. The 
Carthaginians, all believing water to be brought forth 
by the moon, uttered piercing cries to facilitate her 
travail. 

The deluging rain beat upon the terraces, overflow- 
ing everywhere, forming lakes in the courts, cascades 
over the stairways, and whirlpools at the street corners. 
It poured down in heavy, warm masses and spouting 
streams ; from the corners of all the buildings gleamed 
great, foaming jets; against the walls it was like white 
sheets vaguely suspended, and the roofs of the temples 
shone brilliantly black under the flashes of lightning. 
By a thousand channels torrents descended from the 
Acropolis ; houses suddenly crumbled ; beams, rubbish, 
and furniture swept by in the streams gushing impetu- 
ously over the pavements. 

Amphoras, jugs, and canvases were exposed to catch 
the water : the torches were extinguished ; and to light 
their pathways they took brands from the pyre of the 


SALAMMBO 


315 


Baal. In order that they might drink, they turned up* 
their faces and opened their mouths. Some, by the 
edges of miry pools, plunged their arms in up to their 
armpits, and gorged themselves with water which they 
vomited like buffaloes. 

Gradually a freshness spread abroad ; all breathed 
the humid air, giving full play to their limbs ; and in the 
happiness of their intoxication boundless hope sprang 
up. All their miseries were forgotten. Their country 
was revived anew. 

They felt a desire to direct upon others the excess of 
their fury, which they had been unable to employ 
against themselves. Such a sacrifice ought not to be 
useless — even though they had no remorse, they found 
themselves carried away by that frenzy caused by com- 
plicity in irreparable crimes. 

The storm fell upon the Barbarians in their poorly 
closed tents; and the next day, still benumbed, they 
were floundering about in the deep mud, searching for 
their munitions and weapons, which were spoiled and 
lost. 

Hamilcar himself went to seek Hanno, and, in pur- 
suance of his full powers, entrusted to him the com- 
mand. The old Suffet hesitated some minutes between 
his rancour and his appetite for authority ; however, he 
accepted. 

Subsequently Hamilcar sent out a galley, equipped 
with a catapult on both ends, and anchored her in the 
gulf, facing the raft. Then on all the disposable ves- 
sels he embarked the most robust of his troops. He was 
apparently flying; and making sail towards the north, 
he gradually disappeared in the mist. 

But three days later, when they were about to renew 
the attack, some people from the Libyan coast arrived 
in a tumultuous state. Barca had come upon them. 


316 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


*He had levied for provisions on all sides, and was 
spreading his troops throughout the country. 

The Barbarians were as indignant as if he had be- 
trayed them. However, those who were most tired of 
the siege, and especially the Gauls, did not hesitate to 
leave the walls in order to endeavour to rejoin the 
Suffet. Spendius wanted to reconstruct the helepolis. 
Matho had traced an imaginary line from his tent to 
Megara, and inwardly pledged himself to follow it; 
and not one of their men stirred. But Autharitus’ sol- 
diers departed, deserting the western portion of the 
ramparts. The indifference was so profound, that no 
one even thought of replacing them. 

Narr’ Havas spied them from the distance in the 
mountains. He moved his troops during the night 
along the exterior side of the Lagoon by the sea-coast, 
and entered Carthage. 

He presented himself like a saviour, with six thou- 
sand men, all carrying meal under their mantles, and 
bringing forty elephants laden with forage and dried 
meats. Soon the people flocked around them, giving 
them names. The arrival of such a succour rejoiced 
the Carthaginians even less than the sight of these 
strong animals sacred to Baal : it was a pledge of his 
favour, a proof that at last he came to defend them, and 
to intervene in the war in their behalf. 

Narr’ Havas received the compliments of the Elders ; 
then he ascended towards Salammbo’s palace. He had 
not seen her since the time when, in Hamilcar’s tent, 
between the five armies, he had felt her little, cold, soft 
hand bound to his. After the betrothal she had re- 
turned to Carthage. His love, diverted by other am- 
bitions, had come back to him, and now he anticipated 
enjoying his rights by marrying and taking possession 
of her. 


SALAMMBO 


317 


Salammbo did not understand how this young man 
could ever become her master ! Though she prayed 
nightly to Tanit for the death of Matho, her horror 
of the Libyan was decreasing. She dimly felt that the 
hatred with which he had persecuted her was some- 
thing almost religious ; and she would gladly have seen 
in Narr’ Havas some reflection of that violence which 
fascinated her. She yearned to know more of him ; 
nevertheless, his presence would have embarrassed her, 
and she sent word that she could not receive him. 

Besides, Hamilcar had forbidden his people to admit 
the Numidian king to his daughter ; he withheld this 
reward till the conclusion of the war, hoping thereby 
to preserve his devotion ; and Narr’ Havas, fearing 
Hamilcar, retired. 

But he bore himself haughtily toward the Hundred, 
changing their plans, demanding privileges for his men, 
and having them appointed to important posts. 

With wide-open eyes, the Barbarians discerned the 
Numidians on the towers. 

However, the Carthaginians’ surprise was even 
greater when there came sailing into their harbour an 
old Punic trireme bearing four hundred of their men, 
who had been taken prisoners during the Sicilian war. 
In fact, Hamilcar had secretly sent back to the Quirites 
the crews of the Latin vessels taken before the defec- 
tion of the Tyrian towns, and Rome, in exchange for 
this fair dealing, had now returned to him these cap- 
tives. Rome scorned the overtures of the Mercenaries 
in Sardinia, refusing even to recognise as subjects the 
inhabitants of Utica. 

Hiero, who ruled at Syracuse, was impressed by this 
example. In order to preserve his own States, he re- 
quired a balance of power between the two peoples ; 
hence he was interested in the welfare of the Canaan- 


318 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


ites, and he declared himself their friend by sending to 
them twelve hundred head of cattle and fifty-three thou- 
sand nebels of wheat. 

A deeper reason brought help to Carthage : it was 
thoroughly realised that, if the Mercenaries triumphed, 
all, from the soldiers to the scullions, would rise in re- 
volt, and that no government, no household, would be 
able to resist them. 

In the meantime Hamilcar reduced the eastern coun- 
tries. He drove back the Gauls; and the Barbarians 
found themselves besieged on every side. 

Then he set himself to harass them. He would 
march up, then depart, continually renewing this 
manoeuvre, until gradually he drew them out from their 
encampments. Spendius was obliged to follow ; and 
Matho, in the end, yielded also. 

He did not pass beyond Tunis. He shut himself 
within its walls. This obstinacy was full of sagacity; 
for soon they saw Narr’ Havas coming through the 
gate of Khamoun with his elephants and soldiers. Ha- 
milcar recalled him. But already the other Barbarians 
were wandering about the provinces in pursuit of the 
Suffet. 

At Clypea he had received three thousand Gauls. He 
had horses brought to him from Cyrenaica and suits of 
armour from Bruttium, and reopened the war. 

Never had his genius been so impetuous and fertile. 
For five months he drew them in his track. He had a 
goal to which he wished to lead them. 

The Barbarians had at first tried to surround him 
with small detachments, but he always escaped them. 
They separated no more. Their army now numbered 
forty thousand men all told, and many times they re- 
joiced to see the Carthaginians driven back. 

That which tormented them most was the cavalry of 


SALAMMBO 


319 


Narr’ Havas. Often in the most oppressive hours of 
the day as they traversed the plains, dozing under the 
weight of their weapons, a great line of dust would 
suddenly rise on the horizon, horsemen would gallop 
up, and from out of the depths of a cloud full of flam- 
ing eyes, a shower of darts would be launched upon 
them. The Numidians, in their white mantles, would 
utter loud yells, lift up their arms, press their knees 
against their rearing stallions, make them wheel sud- 
denly, and then disappear. They always held in re- 
serve provisions and javelins, at some distance off, 
packed upon dromedaries ; and they would return more 
terrible, howling like wolves, flying like vultures. 

The Barbarians who were posted at the extremities 
of the files fell one by one : this would continue till the 
evening, when an endeavour would be made to enter 
the mountains. 

Although they were perilous for the elephants, Ha- 
milcar had involved himself in them. He followed the 
long chain which extended from the promontory of 
Hermaeum to the summit of Zagouan. This they be- 
lieved was a plan to hide the weakness of his troops. 
But the continual uncertainty in which he kept them 
ended by exasperating them more than a defeat. Nev- 
ertheless, they were not discouraged, but marched after 
him. 

One evening, behind the Silver Mountain and the 
Lead Mountain, in the midst of huge rocks, and at the 
mouth of a defile, they surprised a corps of velites and 
thought that certainly the whole Punic army was be- 
fore them, for they could hear the tramp of feet and 
bluster of clarions ; the Carthaginians immediately fled 
through the gorge. This defile sloped down to a plain, 
formed like an iron axe, environed by high cliffs. To 
overtake the velites the Barbarians dashed into it ; right 


320 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


at the further end other Carthaginians were rushing 
about tumultuously among galloping oxen. A man in 
a red mantle could be discerned : it was the Suffet ; the 
pursuers yelled out, transported by an increase of fury 
and joy. Many, either from languor or caution, had 
remained at the entrance of the pass ; but cavalry, de- 
bouching from a wood, with blows of lances and sabres 
drove them down upon the others, until finally all the 
Barbarians were below in the plain. 

After this vast mass of men had fluctuated about 
for some time, they halted; they could discover no 
outlet. 

Those who were adjacent to the pass turned back, 
but the passage had in the meantime entirely disap- 
peared. They hailed those in front to make them pro- 
ceed; the latter crushed themselves against the moun- 
tain, and from afar they abused their comrades, who 
could not find the passage again. 

In fact, scarcely had the Barbarians descended, be- 
fore men lying in ambush behind the rocks had heaved 
them up with beams and overset them ; and as the slope 
of the ground was very abrupt the enormous blocks 
of rocks, rolling down in confusion, completely choked 
up the narrow opening. 

At the other extremity of the plain extended a long 
passage, here and there split by crevices, that led to a 
ravine beyond, rising to the upper plateau, where the 
Punic army was stationed. In this passage, against 
the walls of the cliff, scaling-ladders had previously 
been placed ; and, protected by the circuitous turnings 
of the crevices, the velites, before being overtaken, 
were able to seize the ladders and mount the walls ; 
nevertheless, many became entangled at the bottom of 
the ravine, and these were drawn aloft with cables, as 
the earth in that quarter was covered by quicksand, 


SALAMMBO 


321 


and of such a declivity that it would be impossible for 
any man to crawl up, even on his hands and knees. 

Almost immediately the Barbarians reached this 
spot ; but a portcullis, forty cubits high, made to fit 
exactly in the intervening space, suddenly dropped be- 
fore them, like a rampart that had fallen from the sky. 

Thus the stragetic combinations of the SufTet were 
successfully accomplished. None of the Mercenaries 
knew the mountain, and, marching at the head of the 
column, they had thus led the others into the trap. The 
rocks, a little narrower at the base, were easily knocked 
over, and whilst they all were running, his army in the 
horizon had yelled as if in distress. Hamilcar, it is 
true, might have lost all his velites — half of whom only 
remained ; but he would willingly have sacrificed twen- 
ty times as many men for the success of such an en- 
terprise. 

Until morning the Barbarians marched in compact 
files, from one end to the other of this circumscribed 
plain. They tapped the mountain with their hands, 
seeking some passage ; but all to no purpose. 

Finally, day broke; they then saw a large, white, 
perpendicularly hewn wall ; and not a visible means of 
escape, not a hope ! The two natural passages from 
this alley were closed by the portcullis on one side, and 
by rocks on the other. 

They all looked at each other without a word. They 
collapsed, feeling an icy cold in their loins and an over- 
whelming weight upon their eyelids. 

They rose and bounded against the rocks ; but those 
at the base, held down by those above, were immovable. 
Then they tried to clutch on to the rocky sides so as to 
reach the top ; but the tun-bellied form of these huge 
masses refused all hold. They tried to split the earth 
at the sides of the gorge, but their weapons broke; 


322 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


then, as a last resort, they made a vast fire with their 
tent-poles, but the mountain would not burn. 

Now they went back to the portcullis ; it was gar- 
nished with long spikes, thick as boar-spears, and sharp 
as porcupine quills, set closer together than bristles in 
a brush. But their rage infuriated them so blindly, 
that they threw themselves upon it : the first were 
spiked to the very backbone, the second fell backward 
over each other, and all recoiled, leaving human shreds 
and blood-stained scalps on the horrible spikes. 

When their discouragement was a little abated, they 
examined their provisions. The Mercenaries, whose 
baggage was lost, possessed but enough for two days, 
and all the others found themselves absolutely desti- 
tute, as they had been waiting for a promised convoy 
from the southern villages. 

Meanwhile, the cattle loosened by the Carthaginians 
in the gorge to decoy the Barbarians into this trap 
wandered about: these they killed with their lances; 
when their stomachs were full, their thoughts were less 
dismal. 

The next day they slaughtered the mules, forty in 
number; then they scraped the hides, boiled the en- 
trails, and pounded the bones. As yet they did' not 
despair: the army at Tunis would assuredly hear of 
their position, and come promptly to their rescue. 

But on the evening of the fifth day their hunger 
redoubled: they gnawed the shoulder-belts of their 
swords and the little sponges edging the bottoms of 
their helmets. 

These forty thousand men were crowded in a sort 
of hippodrome formed by the mountain ; some of them 
persistently remained before the portcullis, or at the 
base of the rocks ; the rest confusedly covered the plain 
of the basin. The strong avoided each other, and the 


SALAMMBO 


323 


timid sought out the brave, who, however, could not 
save them. 

From fear of infection, the bodies of the velites had 
been quickly buried, and the location of the graves re- 
mained no longer distinguishable. 

Lying on the ground, all the Barbarians languished. 
Here and there between their lines, a veteran some- 
times passed, and they shouted curses against the Car- 
thaginians, against Hamilcar, and against Matho, al- 
though he was innocent of their present disaster. But 
it seemed to them that the calamity would have been 
less if he had also shared it. Then they moaned ; some 
even wept softly, like little children. 

They would go to the captains and implore them to 
give them something to appease their sufferings. The 
officers made no reply, or, seized with rage, picked up 
stones and threw them into their faces. 

In truth, many kept carefully hidden in a hole in the 
ground a reserve of food, possibly only a few handfuls 
of dates, or a little meal ; this they eat stealthily during 
the night, with their heads cautiously covered by their 
mantles ; those who possessed swords held them drawn, 
and the more defiant stood upright, with their backs to 
the mountain. 

They accused and threatened their chiefs. Autha- 
ritus had no fear in showing himself ; with the tenacity 
peculiar to the Barbarians, which nothing could rebut, 
twenty times a day he went forth to the rocks, each 
time hoping to find them displaced, and, swinging his 
heavy shoulders covered with furs, he reminded his 
companions of a bear leaving its cavern in the spring 
to see if the snow has melted. 

Spendius, surrounded by Greeks, hid himself in one 
of the crevices; and, as he was afraid, he caused a 
rumour of his death to be noised about. 


324 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


By this time they were all hideously meagre ; their 
skin was mottled with bluish patches. The evening of 
the ninth day three Iberians died, whereupon their 
frightened comrades left the place. The bodies were 
stripped, and the white, naked corpses remained on the 
sand exposed to the sun. 

Then some Garamantes began to prowl about these 
bodies. They were men accustomed to a life of 
solitude in the desert, and reverenced no god. At 
length the oldest one of the band made a sign, and 
bending over the corpses, with their knives they cut off 
strips and devoured them, squatting on their heels. 
The others looked on, standing aloof. Cries of horror 
were raised. Many of these men, notwithstanding, in 
the depth of their hearts were jealous of their fright- 
ful courage. 

In the middle of the night some of these approached, 
and, dissimulating their eagerness, asked for a tiny 
morsel, only to taste. Some braver ones followed ; 
their number increased ; soon a crowd collected. But 
almost all, feeling the cold flesh on their teeth, let their 
hands fall ; others, on the contrary, devoured their por- 
tions with delight. 

In order to be encouraged by example, they stimu- 
lated each other. Those who had at first refused, came 
to see the Garamantes, and did not leave ; their pieces 
were cooked over the embers on the point of a spear, 
and salted with the dust ; they even contended among 
themselves as to the best bits. When nothing remained 
of the three corpses, their eyes roved over the plain 
to find others. 

But did they not possess some Carthaginians — 
twenty captives taken in the last skirmish — and whom 
no one until now had remembered ? They disappeared ; 
moreover, it was a piece of revenge. Then, as they 


SALAMMBO 


325 


needs must live, and the taste for such food developed 
itself, and as they were dying, they killed the water- 
carriers, the grooms, and all the servants of the Mer- 
cenaries. Some of them were killed every day. A 
few ate lustily, regained their strength, and were no 
longer sad. 

Soon this resource failed them; then their desire 
turned towards the sick and wounded : since they could 
not recover, it was as well to deliver them from their 
agony. Hence, as soon as a man tottered, all cried out 
that he was lost, and should serve the others. To ac- 
celerate their deaths they employed all manner of 
schemes. They stole from them the last remnants of 
their foul portion : as if by accident, they trod upon 
them. The dying, to induce a belief in their strength, 
endeavoured to lift their arms, or to rise up, or to 
laugh. Men who had swooned were roused by the 
cold contact of a notched blade sawing off a limb ; and 
they killed still others out of ferocity, without need, 
in order to appease their fury. 

On the fourteenth day a warm, heavy mist, such as 
frequents those regions at the end of winter, settled 
down upon the army. This change of temperature 
caused many deaths, and corruption was developed 
with frightful speed in the warm humidity retained 
by the mountain walls. The drizzle, which fell upon 
the corpses and softened them, soon made of the whole 
plain one great mass of rottenness. White vapour 
floated above, stinging the nostrils, penetrating the 
skin, and troubling the eyes : and the Barbarians 
fancied that through the exhalations of the breath they 
could see the souls of their dead comrades. An im- 
mense disgust overwhelmed them. They would have 
no more of it. They desired to die. 

Two days later the air became pure again, and 


326 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


hunger reseized them. It seemed at times that their 
stomachs were clawed with hooks ; then they rolled 
over in convulsions, stuffing their mouths full of dirt, 
biting their own arms, and bursting into frantic spasms 
of laughter. 

Yet more, if possible, did their thirst torment them, 
as they had not a drop of water — for the leathern 
water-bottles since the ninth day had been completely 
dry. To deceive this need, they resorted to the trick 
of applying on their tongues the metal scales of their 
sword-belts, the ivory hafts, or the steel of their 
swords, while experienced camel-drivers tightened 
their bellies with ropes ; others sucked a stone ; many 
drank urine cooled in their brazen helmets. 

And they still looked for the army from Tunis ! The 
length of time that it took in coming, according to 
their conjecture, made its speedy arrival certain. Be- 
sides, Matho, who was so brave, would not desert them. 
“ He will come to-morrow ! ” they said to each other. 
The morrow came and passed. 

In the early days they had prayed, made vows, and 
all sorts of incantations ; but now they did not feel for 
their divinities other than hatred, and out of vengeance 
endeavoured not to believe in them. 

Men of violent characters perished first; the Afri- 
cans resisted longer than the Gauls. Zarxas, amid the 
Baleares, remained extended full length, his hair tossed 
over his arms, inert. Spendius had found a plant with 
broad leaves full of juice, and in order to scare the 
others declared it to be poisonous ; then he fed himself 
upon it. 

They were too weak to knock down with stones the 
ravens that flew about. Sometimes, when a bearded 
vulture perched on a corpse, and had been for a long 
time tearing it, a man would crawl toward it with a 


SALAMMBO 


327 


javelin between his teeth, lean upon his arm, and, tak- 
ing a good aim, would throw the weapon. The bird 
with white plumage, disturbed by the noise, would pause, 
look all about in a tranquil manner, like a cormorant 
on a reef, then would plunge again its hideous yellow 
beak into its prey; while the man, in despair, would 
fall flat on his face in the dust. Some discovered 
chameleons and serpents. But it was the love of life 
that kept them alive. They concentrated their minds 
exclusively on this idea — and clung to existence by an 
effort of will that in itself prolonged it. 

The most stoical kept close together, sitting about in 
the centre of the plain, here and there between the 
dead ; and, wrapped in their mantles, abandoned them- 
selves silently to their sorrow. 

Those who had been born in towns recalled the 
bustling streets full of noise, the taverns, the theatres, 
the baths, and the barbers’ shops, where stories were 
told: others, again, saw fields at sunset, where the 
yellow grain waved and the huge oxen ascended the 
hills with the ploughshares on their necks. Travellers 
dreamed of cisterns, hunters of their forests, veterans 
of battles ; and in the torpor that benumbed them, their 
fancies jostled one another with all the power and 
clearness of dreams. Hallucinations came over them ; 
they sought a gate in the mountain side to escape, and 
tried to pass through. Others, believing that they 
were navigating in a storm, gave orders for the hand- 
ling of a ship ; some even recoiled in terror, perceiving 
in the clouds Punic battalions ; others fancied that they 
were at a feast, and sang songs. 

Many in a strange mania repeated the same word, 
or continually made the same gesture ; then, when they 
raised their heads and looked at one another, sobs suf- 
focated them, on discovering the horrible ravages de- 


328 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


picted on their faces. Some had ceased to suffer, and 
sought to employ the tedious hours by recounting the 
various perils from which they had miraculously 
escaped. 

Death seemed certain and imminent to all. How 
often had they not tried to open a passage ! As for 
imploring terms from the conquerors, by what means 
could they ? They did not even know where Hamilcar 
was. 

The wind blew from the direction of the ravine, mak- 
ing the sand flow continuously over the portcullis in 
cascades, and the mantles and hair of the Barbarians 
were completely covered with falling sand, as if the 
earth were rising and desirous to engulf them. Noth- 
ing moved ; the eternal mountain each morning seemed 
higher. Sometimes flocks of birds flew swiftly over- 
head, spreading out their wings across the open blue 
sky, in the freedom of the air : the men closed their 
eyes to avoid seeing them. They felt at first a buzzing 
in their ears ; their finger-nails blackened ; the cold 
seized their breasts. They lay upon their sides, and 
expired without a cry. 

On the nineteenth day two thousand Asiatics were 
dead, and fifteen hundred men from the Archipelago, 
eight thousand Libyans, the youngest Mercenaries, and 
whole tribes — in all, twenty thousand soldiers, one half 
of the army. 

Autharitus, who had only fifty Gauls surviving, was 
about to kill himself, thereby putting an end to it all, 
when at the summit of the mountain facing him, he 
thought he saw a man. The great height made him 
look like a dwarf. However, Autharitus recognised 
on his left arm a trefoil-shaped shield, and cried out, 
“ A Carthaginian ! ” In the plain below the portcullis, 
and under the rocks, all instantly rose to their feet. 


SALAMMBO 


329 


The soldier marching on the edge of the precipice was 
eagerly watched by the Barbarians. 

Spendius picked up an ox skull, and with two 
girdles fashioned a diadem, placing it on the horns 
at the end of a pole, to signify peaceful intentions. 
The’ Carthaginian disappearded. They waited a long 
time. 

At last, in the evening, like a stone loosened from 
the cliff, there suddenly fell from above a sword-belt 
made of red leather covered with embroidery and 
three diamond stars ; in the centre it bore stamped 
upon it the seal of the Grand Council — a horse be- 
neath a palm tree. This was Hamilcar’s response, the 
safe conduct that he sent. 

They had nothing to fear; any change of fortune 
brought with it an end to their ills. A measureless 
rapture agitated them ; they embraced and wept. 
Spendius, Autharitus, Zarxas, four Italians, one Ne- 
gro, and two Spartans, offered themselves as envoys. 
They were promptly accepted ; however, they knew 
no way by which to gain exit. 

In the midst of this dilemma, a crash resounded in 
the direction of the rocks, and the topmost crag, hav- 
ing swayed on its base, bounded down to the bottom. 
In fact, though from the side of the Barbarians they 
were immovable — for it would have been necessary 
for* them to ascend an inclined plane : besides, they 
were closely packed by the narrowness of the gorge — 
from the other side, on the contrary, a vigorous push 
was enough to make them descend. 

The Carthaginians pushed them, and at daybreak 
they had fallen into the plain, looking like the steps of 
a gigantic stairway in ruins. 

Still the Barbarians could not climb up, so ladders 
were thrown over. All rushed for these; but the 


330 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


prompt discharge of a catapult drove them back; and 
only the Ten were taken up. 

They marched between Clinabarians, leaning their 
hands on the cruppers of the horses to support them- 
selves. Now that their first joy was over, they began 
to feel uneasiness. The demands of Hamilcar would 
be cruel ; but Spendius reassured his companions, 
saying : — 

“ It is I who will speak ! ” Then he vaunted his 
knowledge of admirable things to say for the welfare 
of the army. 

Behind all the bushes they encountered sentinels in 
ambush, who prostrated themselves before the sword- 
belt which Spendius had put over his shoulder. 

When finally they arrived at the Punic encampment, 
the crowd pressed about them, and they heard signifi- 
cant whispers and laughter. 

The door of a tent opened ; Hamilcar was at the 
back part, seated on a bench near a low table, on 
which shone a naked blade. His captains stood about 
him. When he saw these men, he started back, then 
leaned forward to examine them. 

The pupils of their eyes were extraordinarily large, 
and a wide black ring encircled them, extending to the 
lower part of their ears; their bluish noses projected 
between their hollow cheeks, furrowed by deep wrin- 
kles ; the skin of their bodies, too large for their 
flabby muscles, was hidden under a coat of slate- 
coloured dust; their lips were glued against their yel- 
low teeth ; they exhaled an infectious odour, they ap- 
peared like half-open tombs intended for living 
sepulchres. 

In the middle of the tent, on a mat, round which 
the captains were about to sit down, there was a 
smoking dish of pumpkins. The Barbarians riveted 


SALAMMBO 


331 


their gaze on it, shivering in every limb, and tears 
started to their eyes. Nevertheless they restrained 
themselves. 

Hamilcar turned away to speak to some one. In- 
stantly they all rushed upon the dish, throwing them- 
selves flat on the ground, their faces steeped in the 
grease; noises of deglutition mingled with sobs of de- 
light, which they could not suppress. Rather from 
astonishment than pity, they were permitted to fin- 
ish the contents of the bowl. Then, when they again 
stood up, Hamilcar commanded by a sign that the 
man who wore the sword-belt should speak. Spendius 
was frightened and stammered. 

Hamilcar, while listening, constantly twirled around 
on one finger a large gold ring, the same which had 
imprinted the seal of Carthage on the sword-belt; he 
accidentally let it fall on the ground. Spendius at 
once stooped down and picked it up : before his 
master the servile habits of a slave returned to him. 
The others shuddered indignantly at this contemptible 
baseness. 

But the Greek raised his voice, and recounted the 
crimes of Hanno, whom he knew to be a foe of Barca. 
He tried to move Hamilcar’s pity with the details of 
their sufferings, and spoke on for a long time in a 
style rapid, insidious, and violent. Toward the end 
he became forgetful of self, and was carried away by 
the fervour of his imagination. 

Hamilcar replied that he accepted their excuses. 
Peace, therefore, was about to be concluded, and this 
time it would be definitive! But he required that ten 
Mercenaries chosen by himself, without weapons and 
without tunics, should be delivered to him. 

They had not expected such clemency, and Spen- 
dius exclaimed : 


332 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


“ Yes ! twenty, if you will, master ! ” 

“ No ! ten will suffice,” mildly replied Hamilcar. 

In order that they could deliberate, they were dis- 
missed from his tent. As soon as they were alone, 
Autharitus objected to the sacrifice of their compan- 
ions, and Zarxas said to Spendius : 

“ Why did you not kill him ? — his sword was within 
your reach ! ” 

“ Him ! ” exclaimed Spendius, and repeated fre- 
quently, “ Him ! him ! ” as if the thing had been an 
impossibility, and Hamilcar were a divinity. 

So thoroughly were they overcome by their pro- 
tracted fatigue, that they stretched themselves on 
their backs upon the ground; sorely perplexed as to 
what course to follow. 

Spendius urged them to yield; after some parley 
they consented, and they returned to the Suffet. 

Then the Suffet put his hand in the hands of the 
ten Barbarians one after another, and pressed their 
thumbs; afterward he rubbed his hands on his gar- 
ment, for their clammy skins had presented to his 
touch a sensation harsh and soft, that made a slimy, 
creeping impression. Subsequently he said : 

“ You all, then, are the chiefs of the Barbarians, 
and you have sworn for them ? ” 

“ Yes ! ” they replied. 

“ Without reservation, from the bottom of your 
souls, with the intention of fulfilling your promises ? ” 

They assured him that they would return to the 
others, and fulfil their pledges. 

“ Ah ! well ! ” said the Suffet, “ according to the 
convention which has passed between me, Barca, and 
you, the ambassadors of the Mercenaries, it is you 
whom I choose, and shall keep ! ” 

Spendius fell fainting on the mat. The Barbarians, 


SALAMMBO 


333 


as if abandoning him, pressed close together; and 
there was not a word nor a murmur. 

Their comrades who awaited them, when they did 
not return, believed themselves betrayed. Without 
doubt the envoys had given themselves up to the 
Suffet. 

They waited two days longer ; then, on the morning 
of the third, their resolution was taken. With ropes, 
picks, and arrows fitted like rungs of a ladder between 
strips of canvas, they succeeded in scaling the rocks; 
and leaving behind them the weaker ones, about three 
thousand in number, they marched ofif to rejoin the 
army at Tunis. 

At the top of the gorge spread a prairie, lightly 
sprinkled with shrubs, the buds of which the Barba- 
rians devoured ; then they came upon a field of beans : 
these also disappeared as if a cloud of locusts had 
passed. Three hours later they came to a second 
plateau, bounded by a belt of green hills. 

Between the undulations of these hillocks silvery 
sheaves shone, stacked at regular intervals: the sun 
so dazzled the Barbarians that they could but con- 
fusedly discern under them large, black masses; these 
sprang up, as if they were ascending out of the earth. 
They were lances in towers, on the backs of formid- 
ably equipped elephants. 

Besides the spears of their breastplates, the pointed 
ferrules on their tusks, the brazen plates which cov- 
ered their sides, and the daggers fastened to their 
knee-caps, they had on the end of their trunks a band 
of leather, in which was fixed the hilt of a broad cut- 
lass. Starting all at the same time from the bottom 
of the plain, they advanced from each side in parallel 
lines. 


334 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


A nameless terror froze the Barbarians; they did 
not try to escape. Already they found themselves 
surrounded. 

The elephants entered this mass, and with the 
spears on their breastplates clove it; the lance-like 
tusks overturned it like ploughshares. They cut, 
they hewed, they hacked with the scythes extending 
from their trunks; the towers full of fiery darts 
seemed like moving volcanoes. Nothing could be 
distinguished but a broad heap, on which were vis- 
ible white patches of human flesh, grey spots of frag- 
ments of brass, and red splashes of blood. The hor- 
rible animals passed through it all, digging out black 
furrows. 

The most furious were led by a Numidian, crowned 
with a diadem of plumes. He hurled javelins with 
terrific speed, while uttering at intervals a long, shrill 
whistle; the huge beasts, docile as dogs, in the midst 
of the carnage kept turning an eye in his direction. 

Their circle gradually narrowed. The weakened 
Barbarians could make no resistance: soon the ele- 
phants reached the centre of the plain. There was 
not room enough, and the animals crowded together, 
half rearing up, and clashed their tusks. Suddenly 
Narr’ Havas quieted them, and turning round they 
trotted back towards the hills. 

Meanwhile two syntagmas, taking refuge at the 
right in a hollow, had thrown down their weapons, 
and were now upon their knees: turning toward the 
Punic tents, with uplifted arms, they implored mercy. 

Their arms and legs were tied; then, when they 
were flat on the ground, close together, the elephants 
were led over them. 

Their breast-bones cracked like coffers being 
broken; the huge animals at each step crushed two 


SALAMMBO 


335 


men ; their cumbrous feet sank into the bodies with 
a movement of their haunches, that made them ap- 
pear lame. They continued to the very end. 

The level of the plain became motionless ; night 
fell. Hamilcar was exulting before the spectacle of 
his vengeance, when suddenly he started. 

He saw, and all saw, six hundred paces distant, on 
the left at the summit of a peak, some more Barba- 
rians ! In fact, four hundred of the stoutest Merce- 
naries, Etruscans, Libyans, and Spartans, early in the 
fray had gained the heights, and until now had been 
uncertain what to do. After the massacre of their 
comrades, they resolved to cut through the Cartha- 
ginians ; already they were descending in close columns 
in a marvellous and formidable fashion. 

A herald was instantly dispatched by the Suffet, 
stating that he required soldiers, and would receive 
them unconditionally, so much did he admire their 
bravery. They could even, added the man of Car- 
thage, come a little nearer, to a certain spot, which he 
pointed out, and where they would find provisions. 

The Barbarians ran thither and passed the night in 
eating ; then the Carthaginians burst into murmurs 
against the partiality of the Suffet for the Merce- 
naries. Did he yield to the promptings of an insati- 
able hatred, or was it possibly a refinement of treach- 
ery? 

The day after he came himself, unarmed, bare- 
headed, with an escort of Clinabarians, and declared 
to the Barbarians that, having more men than he 
could afford to feed, his intention was not to keep 
them. However, as he required good soldiers, and 
knew not by what method to choose the best, they 
must fight among themselves till death, and he would 
admit the victors to his own body-guard. Such a 


336 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


mode of death was preferable to any other. Then he 
parted his troops — for the Punic standards hid the 
horizon from the Mercenaries — and showed them 
Narr’ Havas’s one hundred and ninety-two elephants, 
forming a single straight line, and brandishing with 
uplifted trunks cutlasses, like giant arms holding 
axes over their heads. 

The Barbarians looked at each other silently. It 
was not the fear of death that made them pale, but 
the horrible compulsion to which they found them- 
selves reduced. 

The community of their hazardous life had estab- 
lished between these men profound friendships. For 
the most part the camp took the place of country ; 
and living without families, they transferred to a 
comrade their instincts of tenderness, and they slept 
side by side under the same mantle, beneath the star- 
light. They exchanged their necklaces and ear-rings, 
gifts they had formerly bestowed upon each other 
after some great peril. 

All begged to die, but no one would strike the blow. 
Here and there a youth said to another man, whose 
beard was grey : “ No ! no ! you are more robust ! You 
will revenge us ! Kill me ! ” And the elder answered : 
“ I have fewer years to live ! Strike to the heart, and 
think no more about it ! ” 

Brothers gazed on each other, with hands clasped; 
friend uttered to friend eternal farewells, standing 
upright, weeping on each other’s shoulders. They 
took off their breastplates, that the sword points might 
bury themselves more quickly, revealing the scars of 
terrific blows received for Carthage, resembling his- 
toric inscriptions on columns. 

Placing themselves in four rows, in the fashion of 
gladiators, they began by timid engagements; some 


SALAMMBO 


337 


even bound up their eyes, moving their swords gently, 
like the sticks of the blind. The Carthaginians yelled, 
crying out that they were cowards. The Barbarians 
grew excited, and soon the conflict became general, 
headlong and terrible. 

Sometimes two men stopped, covered with blood, 
fell into each other’s arms, and expired kissing. Not 
one recoiled. They rushed determinedly upon the ex- 
tended blades. Their delirium became so furious that 
the Carthaginians even at a distance were afraid. 

At length they stopped. A loud, hoarse noise was 
emitted from their chests ; and their eyeballs could be 
seen amidst their long hair, which hung down as if 
they had emerged from a bath of purple dye. Some 
turned rapidly round and round, like panthers 
wounded in the forehead. Others stood motionless, 
regarding a corpse at their feet ; then suddenly they 
tore their faces with their finger-nails, seized their 
swords with both hands, and buried them in their own 
bodies. Sixty yet remained. They asked for drink. 
They were bidden to throw down their swords; when 
they had done so, water was brought to them. 

While they were drinking, their faces buried in the 
vessels, sixty Carthaginians leaped upon them, and 
stabbed them with stilettoes in the back. 

Hamilcar had permitted this, to gratify the instincts 
of his troops, and by this treason, to attach them to 
him personally. 

Thus was the war ended, or so at least he believed 
it to be. Matho would certainly not resist, and in his 
impatience, the Suffet gave command for immediate 
departure. 

His scouts came to inform him that a convoy had 
been observed, going towards the Lead Mountain. 
Hamilcar did not care— for, once the Mercenaries 


338 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


were annihilated, the Nomads would make no trouble. 
The important thing was to take Tunis; so by forced 
marches he advanced towards it. 

He had sent Narr’ Havas back to Carthage, to carry 
the news of his victory. And the king of the Numi- 
dians, proud of his success, presented himself at Sa- 
lammbo’s palace. 

Salammbo received him in her gardens, under a 
large sycamore tree, sitting between pillows of yellow 
leather, with Taanach beside her. Her face was cov- 
ered with a white scarf, that passed over her mouth 
and forehead, allowing only her eyes to be seen: but 
through the transparency of the tissue, her lips shone 
like the gems on her fingers — for Salammbo kept both 
hands likewise covered, and all the time they con- 
versed never made a gesture. 

Narr’ Havas announced to her the defeat of the 
Barbarians. She thanked him, with a blessing, for 
the services he had rendered to her father. Then he 
recounted the whole campaign. 

The doves in the palms around them cooed softly, 
and other birds, such as the ringed galeoles, quails 
from Tartessus, and Punic guinea-fowls, fluttered in 
the grass. The gardens, uncultivated for so long a 
time, were thick with verdure; the colocynth sprang 
up through the branches of the cassia trees; the 
dragon-wort sprinkled the rose-fields; all species of 
vegetation formed tangled bowers, and the sun’s rays, 
descending slantingly, outlined here and there upon 
the ground, as in a wood, the shadow of a leaf. 

The domestic animals, having grown wild, bounded 
away at the slightest noise. Sometimes a gazelle 
might be seen dragging with its little black hoofs the 
peacocks’ feathers scattered about. The noise of the 


SALAMMBO 


339 


distant town was lost in the murmur of the waves. 
The sky was perfectly blue, and not a sail appeared 
on the sea. 

Narr’ Havas ceased speaking. Without responding, 
Salammbo looked at him. He wore a linen robe upon 
which flowers were painted, with a golden fringe at 
the hem ; two silver arrows held back his hair, braided 
close against his ears. His right hand rested on the 
wooden shaft of a pike ornamented with bands of 
electrum and tufts of hair. 

As she looked at him a host of thoughts absorbed 
her. This young man, with a sweet voice and femi- 
nine figure, captivated her eyes by the grace of his 
fine person, and he seemed like an elder sister sent 
by the Baals to protect her. The memory of Matho 
seized her, nor did she resist the desire to inquire what 
had become of him. 

Narr’ Havas responded that the Carthaginians were 
advancing on Tunis to capture him. While he ex- 
plained their chances of success and Matho’s weak- 
ness, she appeared to rejoice with an extraordinary 
hope ; her lips quivered, her breast panted. When at 
last he vowed to kill Matho himself, she cried out: 

“ Yes ! Kill him ! It must be so ! ” 

The Numidian replied that he ardently desired his 
death, inasmuch as when the war was over he should 
marry her. 

Salammbo trembled, and bent her head. 

But Narr’ Havas went on to compare his love and 
his desires to the powers that languished for rain; to 
travellers lost in the night awaiting the dawn. He 
told her that she was more beautiful than the moon; 
more to be preferred than the morning breezes, or 
than the face of a guest. He would have rare objects, 
not to be found in Carthage, brought for her from the 


340 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


country of the Blacks, and the apartments of their 
house should be sprinkled with gold dust. 

Evening fell. Odours of balsam filled the air. For 
a long time they looked at one another in silence, and 
Salammbo’s eyes, in the depth of her long, ample dra- 
peries, had the appearance of two stars in the rift of 
a cloud. Before sunset, he retired. 

The Elders felt relieved from a vast anxiety when 
he left Carthage ; the people had received him with 
even more enthusiastic acclamations than upon the 
former ocasion. If Hamilcar and the Numidian king 
triumphed alone over the Mercenaries, it would be 
impossible to resist them. Then they resolved to 
weaken Barca, by making old Hanno, the one whom 
they loved, participate in the deliverance of Carthage. 

Hanno went immediately toward the western prov- 
inces, so as to revenge himself in the same regions 
which had witnessed his shame: but the inhabitants, 
as well as the Barbarians, were dead, hidden, or fled. 
Then his wrath poured itself forth upon the country; 
he burned the ruins of ruins, leaving not a solitary 
tree, not a spear of grass : the children and the infirm 
whom they met with were tortured; he gave the 
women to the soldiers, to violate before slaying them, 
having the most beautiful always thrown into his own 
litter — for his atrocious malady inflamed his desires, 
and he would gloat over his victims with all the pas- 
sion of a madman. 

Often, on the crest of the hills, black tents sank 
down, as if overthrown by the wind, and broad discs 
with shining edges, which were recognised as the 
wheels of chariots, revolved with a plantive sound 
as they gradually disappeared in the valleys. 

The tribes which had abandoned the siege of Car- 
thage were thus wandering through the provinces. 


SALAMMBO 


341 


waiting for an opportunity or for some victory of the 
Barbarians, to return. But from terror, or because of 
famine, they all followed the roads leading to their 
own countries, and disappeared. 

Hamilcar was not jealous of Hanno’s successes, 
nevertheless he hastened to end matters; he ordered 
him to fall back on Tunis ; and Hanno, who loved his 
country, on the appointed day was under the walls of 
that town. 

Tunis had for her defence her aboriginal popula- 
tion, twelve thousand Mercenaries, and all the Eaters- 
of-Unclean-Things. They, like Matho, had their eyes 
rivetted on the horizon of Carthage, and the populace, 
■as well as the Schalischim, beheld her lofty walls 
from afar, dreaming of the infinite joys behind them. 
With this harmony of hatred, the resistance was 
quickly organised. Leather bottles were used to make 
helmets, all the palms in the gardens were cut down 
to furnish lances, cisterns were excavated; and as for 
food, they fished along the lake shore, catching large 
white fish which fed on the corpses and filth. 

Their ramparts, kept in ruins by the jealousy of 
Carthage, were so weak that one might throw them 
over with a push of the shoulder. Matho ordered the 
breaches to be filled up with the stones from dwellings. 
It was the final struggle; he hoped for nothing, and 
yet he reminded himself that Fortune was fickle. 

As the Carthaginians drew near, they noticed a man 
on the rampart, who from his waist overtopped the 
battlements. The arrows flying about him seemed to 
frighten him no more than a flight of swallows. Most 
extraordinarily, not one of them touched him. 

Hamilcar pitched his camp on the southern side; 
Narr’ Havas on his right occupied the plain of 
Rhades; Hano was stationed on the lake shore; and 


342 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


the three generals were to retain their respective po- 
sitions so that all should attack the walls simultane- 
ously. 

But Hamilcar, in the first place, desired to show the 
Mercenaries that he would punish them like slaves, 
therefore he had the ten ambassadors crucified close 
together on a hillock facing the city. 

At this sight the besieged abandoned the rampants. 

Matho had believed, that if he could pass between 
the walls and Narr’ Havas’s tents so expeditiously 
that the Numidians would not have time to sally forth, 
he would fall on the rear of the Carthaginian infantry, 
who would thus be caught between his division and 
the troops within the town. He dashed out with his 
veterans. 

Narr’ Havas saw him ; he crossed the lake shore, 
and went to warn Hanno to despatch his men to 
Hamilcar’s aid. Did he think Barca too weak to re- 
sist the Mercenaries? Was this treachery or folly? 
No one ever knew. 

Hanno, desiring to humiliate his rival, did not hesi- 
tate ; he ordered the trumpets to be sounded, and all 
his troops rushed upon the Barbarians. The latter 
wheeled round and charged straight upon the Cartha- 
ginians ; they overthrew them, trampled them under 
foot, and driving them back, reached the tent of 
Hanno, who then was surrounded by thirty Cartha- 
ginians, the most illustrious of the Elders. 

Hanno appeared stupefied by their audacity ; he 
called for his captains ; the assaulters thrust their fists 
forward to seize him by the throat, vociferating abuse. 
The crowd pushed each other, and those who had their 
hands on him could scarcely hold him. However, he 
tried to whisper to them : “ I will give you all you 
want ! I am rich ! Save me ! ” They dragged him 


SALAMMBO 


343 


away, and, heavy as he was, his feet did not touch the 
ground. They also dragged away the Elders. 
His terror increased. 

“ You have defeated me ! I am your captive ! I 
will ransom myself ! Listen to me, my friends ! ” and, 
carried along by their shoulders pressed against his 
sides, he repeated : “ What are you going to do ? 
What do you want? You see well, I do not resist! 
I have always been complaisant ! ” 

A gigantic cross stood at the gate; the Barbarians 
howled out, “ Here ! here ! ” Then he raised his voice 
higher, and in the name of their gods he entreated 
them to take him to their Schalischim, because he 
had something to confide to him, upon which depended 
their safety. 

They paused, some declaring it would be wise to 
call Matho ; and he was sent for. 

Hanno sank down upon the grass, and he saw 
around him still more crosses, as if the torture under 
which he was about to perish had multipled itself. 
He made efforts to believe that he was deceived, that 
there was only one cross, and even that there were 
none at all. Finally, the Mercenaries lifted him up as 
Matho appeared. 

“ Speak ! ” said Matho. 

He offered to deliver over Hamilcar: then they 
would enter Carthage, and both be kings. 

Matho turned away, making a sign for the men to 
hasten ; he thought this was a stratagem to gain time. 

The Barbarian was mistaken, for Hanno was in one 
of those dire extremities where a man no longer con- 
siders anything but self-preservation. Besides, he 
hated Hamilcar so thoroughly, that for the slightest 
reason he would have sacrificed him and all his sol- 
diers. 


344 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


At the foot of thirty crosses the Elders languished 
upon the ground ; already ropes had been passed under 
their armpits. Then the old Suffet, realising that he 
was to he put to death, wept bitterly. 

His captors pulled off what remained of his clothing, 
revealing the horrors of his person. Ulcers covered 
this nameless mass; the fat of his legs hid his toe- 
nails ; the flesh hung like green rags to his fingers ; the 
tears which ran between the tubercles of his cheeks 
made his visage something shockingly deplorable, for 
they seemed to occupy more space than on any other 
human face. His royal bandeau, half untied, trailed 
with his long white hair in the dust. 

Believing that the ropes were not sufficiently strong 
to haul him up to the top of the cross, they nailed him 
to it before it was erected, in the Punic fashion. But 
his pride was aroused in his pain ; he began to over- 
whelm them with abuse. He frothed and writhed like 
a marine monster stranded and killed on the shore. 
He predicted that they should all end even more hor- 
ribly than he, and that he should be revenged. He 
was right: for on the other side of the town, whence 
now escaped jets of flames mingled with columns of 
smoke, the envoys of the Mercenaries were in the 
agonies of death. 

Some who had fainted at first, were revived by the 
coolness of the breeze; but they remained with their 
chins on their breasts, their bodies fallen a little, in 
spite of the nails through their arms, which were 
fastened above their heads. From their hands and 
heels blood slowly fell in big drops, like ripe fruit 
falling from the branches of a tree ; and Carthage, 
the gulf, the mountains, and the plains, appeared to 
them to be all revolving like an immense wheel ; some- 
times a cloud of dust lifted from the earth, and en- 


SALAMMBO 


345 


veloped them in its eddies. They were consumed by 
a horrible thirst; their tongues curled up in their 
mouths, and they felt an icy sweat trickling over them 
with their departing souls. Meanwhile, they could see 
at an infinite depth, streets, soldiers marching, swords 
swinging; and, the tumult of battle came indistinctly 
to them, as the noiSe of the sea to shipwrecked sailors 
dying in the rigging of their ships. The Italiots, more 
robust than the rest, continued to shriek; the Lacsede- 
monians kept silent, with eyes closed ; Zarxas, for- 
merly so vigorous, drooped like a broken reed ; the 
Ethiopian alongside of him had his head thrown back- 
ward over the arm of the cross ; Autharitus, motion- 
less, rolled his eyes; his heavy, long hair was caught 
in a crack in the wood and drawn straight over his 
forehead, and his death-rattle seemed rather like a 
growl of wrath. 

As for Spendius, a strange courage had come to 
him ; he despised life now, because of the certainty 
that he should have an almost immediate and eternal 
release ; he awaited death with impassibility. 

In the midst of their swoonings, sometimes they 
shuddered at the touch of feathers as they grazed 
against their lips. Huge wings cast long, waving 
shadows about them, croakings sounded in the air; 
and as the cross of Spendius was the highest, it was 
thereon the first vulture alighted. Then he turned his 
face towards Autharitus, saying slowly, with a strange 
smile : 

“ Do you recall the lions on the road to Sicca ? ” 

“ They were our brothers ! ” answered the Gaul, as 
he expired. 

The Sufifet in the meantime, had broken through the 
walls and gained the citadel. Under a gust of wind 
the smoke suddenly disappeared, disclosing the hori- 


346 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


zon as far as the walls of Carthage ; he believed even 
that he could distinguish the people watching from 
the platform of Eschmoun ; then he turned his eyes, 
and perceived to the left, on the lake shore, thirty 
immense crosses. 

In fact, to render the crosses still more frightful, 
they had constructed them out of tent-poles, lashed 
end to end ; so that the thirty bodies of the crucified 
Elders appeared high up in the sky. On their bo- 
soms gleamed, like white butterflies, the feathers of 
the arrows which had been shot at them from below. 

On the summit of the highest shone a broad, gold 
fillet; it hung upon the shoulder of the crucified one, 
for the arm on that side was wanting; and Hamilcar 
with difficulty recognised Hanno. His spongy bones 
giving way under the iron nails, portions of his limbs 
had become detached, and there only remained on the 
cross shapeless fragments, like portions of animals 
hung upon a hunter’s door. 

The Sufifet had been unable to learn anything of 
Matho’s sally: the town in front of him concealed all 
that lay beyond at the back ; and the captains sent suc- 
cessively to the two generals had not returned. Then 
the fugitives came, recounting the rout ; and the Punic 
army halted. This catastrophe coming in the midst of 
their victory, stupefied them. They no longer heeded 
Hamilcar’s orders. Matho profited by this to continue 
his ravages upon the Numidians. 

Hanno’s camp having been overthrown, he had 
turned again on them. The elephants charged; but 
the Mercenaries, shaking firebrands snatched from the 
burning wall, advanced on the plain ; the huge animals 
were frightened, and fled, precipitating themselves in 
the gulf, killing one another in their struggles, of 
drowning under the weight of their breastplates. Al- 


SALAMMBO 


347 


ready Narr’ Havas had ordered his cavalry to charge ; 
the Mercenaries threw themselves face downward 
against the ground, then, when the horses were within 
three steps of them, they sprang under their bellies 
and ripped them open with daggers ; half of the Nu- 
midians had thus perished when Barca came up. 

The Mercenaries, now exhausted, could not hold 
out against his troops. They retreated in good order 
as far as the Hot-Springs Mountain. The Suffet had 
the prudence not to follow them. He moved toward 
the mouth of the Macar. 

Tunis was his ; but the city was now nothing but a 
heap of smoking rubbish. The ruins had tumbled 
down through the breaches in the walls out into the 
plain ; beyond, between the shores of the gulf, the ele- 
phants’ carcasses, driven by the wind, collided, like 
an archipelago of black rocks floating on the water. 

Narr’ Havas, in order to sustain this war, had ex- 
hausted his forests, taking alike young and old, male 
and female elephants, and the military strength of his 
kingdom could not be reenforced. The people, who 
saw these animals perish from afar, were in despair; 
many lamented in the streets, calling them by their 
names, as if deceased friends : “ Ah ! Invincible ! Vic- 
tor ! Thunderbolt ! Swallow ! ” And during the first 
day everyone spoke only of the dead citizens. The 
next day, seeing the Mercenaries’ tents pitched on the 
Hot-Springs Mountain, their despair became so deep 
that many of the people, especially the women, flung 
themselves headlong from the top to the bottom of 
the Acropolis. 

None knew of Hamilcar’s designs; he lived alone 
in his tent, with no one near him but a young boy, 
never admitting anyone, not even Narr’ Havas, to eat 


348 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


with them. Nevertheless, he showed him much defer- 
ence since Hanno’s defeat; and the king of the Nu- 
midians had too much interest in becoming his son to 
be distrustful. 

This inaction veiled crafty plans. By all sorts of 
artifices he won over the chiefs of villages ; and the 
Mercenaries were hunted, repulsed, and tracked like 
wild beasts. As soon as they entered a wood, the 
trees were fired about them, the waters of the springs 
they drank from were poisoned ; they were walled up 
in caverns wherein they had taken refuge to sleep. 
People who had formerly protected them, even their 
recent accomplices, now pursued them ; they could al- 
ways recognise in these bands Carthaginian armour. 

Numbers of the Mercenaries’ faces were consumed 
with red-tetter ; this they thought had attacked them 
from touching Hanno. Others imagined it was be- 
cause they had eaten the fish of Salammbo; and, far 
from repenting, they dreamed of yet more abominable 
sacrileges, that the humiliation of the Punic gods 
might be yet greater. They would have liked to ex- 
terminate them. 

Thus, for three months, they lingered wearily along 
the eastern coast, from behind the mountain of Sel- 
loum, and as far as the first sands of the desert, seek- 
ing a place of refuge, no matter where. Utica and 
Hippo-Zarytus alone had not betrayed them ; but alas, 
Hamilcar surrounded both of these cities. Then they 
went to the north at hazard, without knowing the 
roads. By stress of miseries, their brains were dis- 
turbed. 

Their only sentiment was one of exasperation, which 
continued developing itself. One day they found 
themselves again in the gorges of Cobus, once more 
before Carthage ! 


SALAMMBO 


349 


Then the engagements multiplied. Fortune favored 
neither side; both armies were so worn out that they 
wished, instead of skirmishing, to engage in a great 
pitched battle, provided that it should certainly be the 
last. 

Matho was desirous of carrying the challege him- 
self to the Suffet. However, one of his Libyans de- 
voted himself to the mission. At his departure all 
were firmly convinced that he would never return to 
them. 

He returned the same evening. 

Hamilcar accepted the challenge. They would meet 
the next day at sunrise, on the plain of Rhades. 

The Mercenaries wanted to know if he had said 
anything more, and the Libyan added : 

— “ As I stood before him, he asked me why I 
waited. I answered, — ‘To be killed!’ Then he re- 
plied : — ‘ No ! go now ; that shall be to-morrow, with 
the rest.’ ” 

This generosity astonished the Barbarians; some 
were terrified at it, and Matho regretted that the en- 
voy had not been killed. 

Matho’s army still contained three thousand Afri- 
cans, twelve hundred Greeks, fifteen hundred Campa- 
nians, two hundred Iberians, four hundred Etruscans, 
five hundred Samnites, forty Gauls, and a band of 
Naffurs — Nomad bandits met with in the dat^ re- 
gion : all told, seven thousand, two hundred, and 
nineteen soldiers ; but not one complete syntagma. 
They stopped up the holes in their breastplates with 
the shoulder-blades of animals, and they replaced their 
brass cothurnes with ragged sandals. Copper or iron 
plates weighed down their garments; their coats-of- 
mail hung in tatters about them, revealing scars that 


350 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


seemed like purple threads, between the hair on their 
arms and faces. 

The resentment for their dead comrades came back 
upon their souls, and increased their energy. They 
felt confusedly that they were the ministers of a god 
who dwelt in the hearts of the oppressed, like the 
pontiffs of a universal vengeance! Then the misery 
of an exorbitant injustice enraged them, especially as 
they gazed at Carthage on the horizon. They swore 
the most solemn oaths to fight for one another to the 
death. 

They slaughtered the beasts of burden, eating as 
much as possible in order to gain strength ; afterward 
they slept. Some prayed, turning toward different 
constellations. 

The Carthaginians arrived first on the battle-field. 
They rubbed the faces of their shields with oil, to 
make the arrows glance off more easily ; the foot-sol- 
diers who had long hair prudently cut it off close 
over the forehead ; and Hamilcar, as early as the fifth 
hour, ordered his men to overturn all the bowls, know- 
ing the disadvantage of entering a battle with too full 
stomachs. His army consisted of fourteen thousand 
men, about double the entire number of the Barbarians. 
Still he had never been more anxious : if he succumbed, 
it would certainly be the annihilation of the Republic, 
and he would perish on the cross ; if he triumphed, on 
the contrary, he would conquer Italy by the Pyrenees, 
Gaul, and the Alps, and the empire of the Barcas 
would become eternal. Twenty times during the night 
he got up to inspect everything personally, even to the 
most minute details. As for the Carthaginians, they 
were exasperated by the prolonged terror. 

Narr’ Havas doubted the fidelity of his Numidians; 
furthermore, the Barbarians might conquer them; a 


SALAMMBO 


351 


strange weakness possessed him, and every moment he 
drank large cups of water. 

A man whom he did not know opened his tent and 
placed on the ground a crown of rock salt, ornamented 
with hieratic designs made in sulphur and lozenges of 
mother-of-pearl. Sometimes a marriage-crown was 
sent to a betrothed husband as a proof of love or 
manner of invitation. 

Nevertheless, Hamilcar’s daughter had no affection 
for Narr’ Havas. The memory of Matho embar- 
rassed her in an intolerable way ; it seemed to her that 
the death of this man could alone clear her thoughts: 
like seeking to cure the sting of a viper by crushing 
the viper on the wound. 

The king of the Numidians was at her disposal. 
He waited impatiently for his wedding, and as it was 
to follow the victory Salammbo had sent him this 
present in order to inspire his courage. Then his dis- 
tress disappeared, and he thought only of the happi- 
ness of possessing so beautiful a woman. 

The same vision had assailed Matho ; but he rejected 
it at once ; and his love, which he drove back, was ex- 
pended on his comrades-in-arms. He cherished them 
like a portion of his own person — aye, of his hate — 
and he felt his spirit loftier, his arm more powerful; 
all that he must do appeared now clearly before him. 
If occasionally sighs escaped from him, it was because 
he recalled the fate of Spendius. 

He ranged the Barbarians in six equal ranks, sta- 
tioning the Etruscans in the centre, all fastened to one 
bronze chain; the archers were kept in the rear, and 
on the wings he distributed the Naffur, mounted on 
short-haired camels covered with ostrich plumes. 

The Suffet arranged his soldiers in similar order; 
outside of the infantry, beside the velites, he placed the 


352 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Clinabarians, and beyond them the Numidians. When 
day appeared, the two armies were thus drawn up in 
line of battle, face to face. All looked at each other 
with large, wild eyes. At first, there was some hesi- 
tation; at length the two armies moved. The Bar- 
barians advanced slowly, to avoid getting out of 
breath, beating the ground with their feet. The centre 
of the Punic army formed a convex, curve. Then 
came a terrible shock, like the crashing of two fleets 
in collision. The first rank of the Barbarians was soon 
opened, and the archers, sheltered behind the others, 
hurled their balls, arrows, and javelins. Meanwhile, 
the curve of the Punic army gradually straightened: 
it became a straight line, then curved inwards; next, 
the two sections of velites approached each other in 
parallel lines like the branches of closing compasses. 

The Barbarians, charging the phalanx furiously, 
entered into the break : they were losing themselves. 
Matho halted them, and whilst the Carthaginian wings 
continued to advance he commanded the three interior 
ranks of his army to retire outwardly ; soon they over- 
lapped his flanks ; his army then appeared in a long line 
of three ranks. But the Barbarians placed at the ex- 
tremities were the weakest, especially those on the left, 
who had exhausted their quivers ; and the troop of ve- 
lites, which had at last come up against them, slaugh- 
tered them freely. 

Matho drew them back. His right wing contained 
the Campanians, armed with battle-axes ; these he 
pushed against the left of the Carthaginians ; the 
centre forces attacked the enemy, and those on the 
other extremity, out of danger, kept the velites at bay. 

Then Hamilcar divided his cavalry into squadrons, 
set the hoplites between them, and let them charge the 
Mercenaries. 


SALAMMBO 


353 


These conical masses presented a front of horses, 
and their broader sides bristled with lances. It was 
impossible for the Barbarians to resist, for only the 
Greek foot-soldiers were equipped in brazen armour, 
all the rest being merely armed with cutlasses on the 
end of poles, scythes taken from the farmhouses, and 
swords made from the felloes of wheels ; the blades, 
too soft, bent in striking, and while they were straight- 
ening them under their heels, the Carthaginians easily 
massacred them right and left. 

But the Etruscans, riveted to their chain, did not 
swerve. Those who were slain, unable to fall, made a 
barrier with their corpses ; and this vast line of bronze 
alternately spread out and closed in, supple as a ser- 
pent, and as impregnable as a wall. The Barbarians 
came behind it to re-form, took breath for a minute, 
and rushed on again, with their shattered weapons in 
their hands. 

Many already were weaponless, and they sprang 
upon the Carthaginians, biting them in their faces like 
rabid dogs. The Gauls with pride stripped off their 
tunics, showing from afar their fine, large, white 
bodies, and endeavoured to terrify the enemy by en- 
larging their wounds. In the midst of the Punic syn- 
tagma, the voice of the crier repeating the orders was 
no longer heard. The standards above the dust re- 
peated their signals, and everyone was swept along, 
impelled by the movement of the vast mass surround- 
ing him. 

Hamilcar commanded the Numidians to advance, 
but the Naffurs precipitated themselves to meet the 
encounter. These men, habited in ample black robes, 
with a tuft of hair on the top of their heads, carrying 
rhinoceros leather shields, wielded a blade without 
haft, held by a rope ; and their camels, stuck all over 


354 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


with feathers, gave vent to long, loud, gurgling plaints. 
Their blades fell in exact places, and then were lifted 
up with a sharp stroke, each time carrying off a limb. 
The fierce camels galloped through the syntagma; 
those with broken legs hopped awkwardly, like 
wounded ostriches. 

The entire Punic infantry fell again on the Barba- 
rians, and broke their line. Their maniples wheeled, 
separating one from another. The more glittering 
Carthaginian weapons encircled them like crowns of 
gold; a swarming agitation filled the centre; the sun 
shone down on them, tipping the sword-points with 
white, dancing gleams. Files of the slain Clinabarians 
lay stretched on the plain ; the Mercenarians stripped 
off their armour and put it on themselves; then they 
returned to the combat. The Carthaginians, deceived, 
constantly entangled themselves in the midst of them. 
Stupefaction kept them motionless, or else they fell 
back and the triumphant cheers which arose from a 
distance seemed to drive them like derelicts in a storm. 
Hamilcar was in despair, for all was going to be 
wrecked by the gehius of Matho and the invincible 
courage of the Mercenaries ! 

A noise of tambourines rang out on the horizon. It 
was a crowd of old men, invalids, and youths fifteen 
years old, and even women, who, no longer able to 
restrain their anxiety, had left Carthage. In order to 
place themselves under the protection of something 
formidable, they had taken out of Hamilcar’s park the 
only elephant left to the Republic— the one whose 
trunk had been cut off. 

Then it seemed to the Carthaginians that their 
country, abandoning her walls, came to command them 
to die valiantly for her. Redoubled fury seized upon 
them, and the Numidians led on all the others. 


SALAMMBO 


355 


In the middle of the plain the Barbarians were 
standing with their backs to a hillock. They had no 
chance of success, nor even of surviving; but they 
were the best, the most intrepid, and the strongest. 

The people of Carthage began to throw over the 
Numidians’ heads, spits, larding-pins, and hammers; 
and those who had made consuls tremble died beneath 
sticks thrown by women : the Punic populace was ex- 
terminating the Mercenaries. 

The Barbarians took refuge on the top of the hill: 
their circle at every fresh breach closed in. Twice 
they descended, but at each encounter were repulsed, 
and the Carthaginians, pell-mell, extended their arms, 
and reached out their spears between their comrades’ 
legs, and thrust at random in front of them. They 
slipped in the blood, and the steep decline of the hill 
caused the corpses to roll down. The elephant, in 
trying to climb the beleaguered hill, trod upon them 
up to his belly, and seemed to spread himself over 
them with delight. The large end of his amputated 
trunk from time to time was lifted up like an enor- 
mous blood-sucker. 

All halted. The Carthaginians ground their teeth 
as they contemplated the top of the hill, where the 
Barbarians held their position, standing firmly ; finally, 
they rallied, and charged abruptly forward: the fray 
began again. 

Often the Mercenaries allowed the enemy to ap- 
proach near, crying out that they would surrender, 
then with frightful sneers, at one blow they killed 
themselves; and as the dead fell, others jumped on 
them to defend themselves. The hill became like a 
pyramid that gradually grew higher. 

Soon only fifty Barbarians were left, then twenty, 
then but three, then two only survived — a Samnite 


356 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


armed with an axe, and Matho, who still had .his 
sword. 

The Samnite, bent on his haunches, swung his axe 
from right to left, constantly warning Matho of blows 
directed at him : “ Master ! this way ! that way ! stoop 
down ! ” 

Matho had lost his shoulder-pieces, helmet, and 
breastplate; he was completely naked, and more livid 
than the dead ; his hair was perfectly erect, the cor- 
ners of his mouth were covered with froth, and his 
sword whirled with such speed, that it made an au- 
reole about him. A stone shattered it close up to the 
guard ; the Samnite was killed ; the mass of Cartha- 
ginians closed in ; they were touching him. Then he 
raised his empty hands toward the sky, closed his 
eyes, and with arms thrown wide open, like a man 
about to leap from the summit of a promontory into 
the sea, he hurled himself into the midst of the lances. 

The foe scattered before him. Frequently he rushed 
against the Carthaginians ; but they always recoiled, 
turning aside their weapons. 

Matho’s foot struck against a sword, and as he bent 
to seize it, he felt himself trammelled by the wrists 
and knees, and he fell. 

Narr’ Havas had followed him for some time, step 
by step, with a large net used for trapping wild beasts, 
and taking advantage of the moment when Matho 
bent he ensnared him in it. 

He was then fastened on the elephant’s back, his 
four limbs cross-wise, and all those who were not 
wounded escorted him, hurrying with great tumult to- 
wards Carthage. 

The news of this victory had already travelled there 
— an inexplicable thing — as early as the third hour of 
the night, and the water-clock of Khamoun marked 


SALAMMBO 


357 


the fifth hour as they reached Malqua. Then Matho 
reopened his eyes; there were so many lights in the 
houses that the town appeared to be all in flames. 

An immense clamour came dimly to him, and lying 
on his back he gazed at the stars. 

Then a door closed, and darkness enveloped him. 

The following day, at the same hour, the last of the 
men who had remained in the Pass of the Battleaxe 
expired. 

The day that their comrades had departed, some 
Zuaeces who were returning home had rolled away the . 
rocks, and had supplied them with food for some time. 

The Barbarians always expected to see Matho ap- 
pear — and they would not leave the mountain, from 
dejection, from weakness, and that obstinacy of sick 
men who refuse to stir. At length, the provisions were 
exhausted, and the Zuaeces went away. It was known 
that they numbered hardly thirteen hundred, and that 
there was no need to employ soldiers to make an end of 
them. 

Wild beasts, especially lions, in the three years of 
the war had greatly multiplied. Narr’ Havas made an 
extensive bush-beat, then chasing them, after having 
baited them by tethering goats at regular distances, he 
had drawn them into the Pass of the Battle-axe; and 
all these animals were still living there when the man 
arrived who had been sent by the Elders to find out 
what was left of the Barbarians. 

Over the extent of the plain lions and corpses were 
mixed with clothing and armour. From almost all, 
the face, or else an arm, was missing. Some appeared 
still untouched ; others were completely dried up, and 
the dusty skulls filled the helmets; fleshless feet stuck 
straight out of the graves; skeletons still wore their 


358 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 

mantles ; bones bleached by the sun made shining 
patches on the sand. 

The lions rested, their chests against the ground, 
their two fore-paws stretched out, blinking their eyes 
in the glare of daylight, which was intensified by its 
reflection from the white rocks. Others, sitting on 
their haunches, stared fixedly before them, or, half 
lost in their profuse manes, slept, rolled up like a ball. 
All appeared to be satiated, wearied, and dull. They 
were as motionless as the mountain, or as the dead. 
Night was falling; wide red bands streaked the West- 
ern sky. 

In one of the heaps irregularly embossing the 
plain, something more weird than . a spectre arose ; 
then one of the lions began to move, cutting with his 
monstrous form a black shadow on the background of 
the purple sky. When he got near to the man he 
felled him with a single blow of his paw. Then, 
stretched flat on his belly, he slowly drew out the en- 
trails. 

Afterwards he opened his jaws wide, and for some 
minutes uttered a long, deep roar, which reechoed in 
the mountains, and was finally lost in the solitude. 

All at once gravel rolled from above ; then came the 
pattering of rapid steps, and from the side of the port- 
cullis and from the gorge appeared pointed snouts and 
straight ears, with yellow gleaming eyeballs. These 
were the jackals, coming to devour the remains. 

The Carthaginian who leaned over the edge of the 
precipice, returned to Carthage. 


SALAMMBO 


359 


CHAPTER XV 

MATHO 

I N Carthage there was joy — a deep, universal, un- 
controlled, frantic joy. The statues of the gods 
had been repainted, the holes in the ruins repaired, 
and the streets strewn with branches of myrtle ; at the 
corners of the streets incense burned; and the multi- 
tude, crowding on the terraces in their motley apparel, 
resembled masses of flowers blooming in the air. 

The continual din of voices was dominated by the 
cry of the water-carriers as they sprinkled the pave- 
ments. Hamilcar’s slaves, in his name, distributed 
roasted barley and pieces of raw meat. People ac- 
costed each other, and embraced in tears ; the Tyrian 
towns were taken, the Nomads were dispersed, and 
all the Barbarians annihilated. The Acropolis was 
hidden beneath coloured canopies; the beaks of the 
triremes, drawn up outside of the mole, glittered like 
a bank of diamonds ; everywhere there was a feeling 
of order reestablished, a new existence beginning. 
A vast happiness spread over all ; it was the wedding 
day of Salammbo and the king of the Numidians. 

On the terrace of the temple of Khamoun, gigantic 
gold plate covered three long tables, where the priests, 
the Elders, and the Rich were to sit ; and a fourth table, 
still higher, was arranged for Hamilcar, Narr’ Havas, 
and Salammbo : for by the restoration of the Zaimph 
she had saved her country, therefore the people made 
her wedding a national rejoicing, and on the square 
below they awaited her appearance. 

But another longing, much keener, excited their im- 


360 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


patience; the death of Matho was promised for this 
ceremony. 

It had been at first proposed to flay him alive, to 
run molten lead into his bowels, or to starve him to 
death ; others wished to attach him to a tree with a 
monkey fastened behind him, to beat his brains out 
with a stone — for he had offended Tanit, and it was 
but just that the cynocephales of Tanit should avenge 
her. Some advised placing him on the back of a 
dromedary, and after having inserted in various parts 
of his body flaxen wicks steeped in oil, that he should 
be paraded about ; and they were amused at the idea 
of the large animal wandering through the streets with 
this man writhing under the fire, like a lighted candel- 
abrum blown about by the wind. 

But to which of the citizens should his torture be 
committed, and why disappoint the others? They de- 
sired to find a mode of death wherein the entire city 
could participate, that all hands, all weapons, all things 
Carthaginian, even to the paving stones of the streets, 
and the water of the gulf, should unite to rend him, 
crush him, annihilate him. Therefore the Elders de- 
cided that he should go from his prison to the square 
of Khamoun without any escort, his arms fastened 
behind his back ; the people were forbidden to strike 
him to the heart, as it was desired to prolong his life ; 
or to put out his eyes, for they would have him see 
his torture until the end; or to hurl anything against 
his person, or strike him with more than three fingers 
at a single blow. 

Although he was not to appear until the close of 
the day, frequently the crowd fancied they caught 
sight of him, and they would rush toward the Acropo- 
lis, deserting the streets: then they returned with a 
prolonged murmur. Since the previous day many 


SALAMMBO 


361 


people had remained standing in the same places, and 
from a distance called out to each other, displaying 
their finger-nails, which they had let grow long to more 
surely lacerate the victim’s flesh. Others walked about 
restlessly. Some were pale, as if they awaited their 
own execution. 

Suddenly, behind the Mappals, great feather fans 
rose above the heads. It was Salammbo leaving her 
palace : a sigh of relief went forth. 

But the cortege occupied a long time coming, mov- 
ing step by step. 

First defiled the priests of the Dii-Patceci , then those 
of Eschmoun, and of Melkarth, successively followed 
by all the other colleges, with the same insignia and in 
the same order as they had observed at the time of the 
procession to the sacrifice. The pontiffs of Moloch 
passed by with heads bent, and the multitude, as in a 
kind of remorse shrank back from them. But the 
priests of the Rabbetna advanced with a proud step, 
their lyres in their hands: the priestesses, wearing 
transparent robes of yellow or black, followed, utter- 
ing cries like birds, writhing like vipers, or to the 
sound of flutes they whirled about, imitating the dance 
of the stars, and their light, fluttering vestments wafted 
delicate puffs of perfume through the streets. The 
people wildly applauded. Among these women were 
hailed with applause the Kedeschim with their painted 
eyelids, symbolic of the hermaphrodism of the Divin- 
ity ; perfumed and clothed like the women, they re- 
sembled them, in spite of their flat breasts and their 
narrower hips. 

The female principle dominated, overpowering all 
else. A mystic voluptuousness floated in the heavy air ; 
already the torches were lighted in the depths of the 
sacred woods, for during the night a grand debauchery 


362 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


would be held there — three vessels had brought cour- 
tesans from Sicily, and others had come from the 
desert. 

As the various colleges arrived they took their places 
in the courts of the temple, on the outer galleries, or 
on the length of the double stairway that ascended 
against the walls, meeting at the top. Rows of white 
robes appeared between the colonnades, and the entire 
architecture was peopled with human statues, motion- 
less as stone. 

After the priests came the masters of finance, the 
governors of provinces, and all the Rich. Below, 
surged a vast tumult. From the neighbouring streets 
the crowd poured forth ; the sacred slaves beat them 
back with their staves ; and then, in the midst of the 
Elders, crowned with gold tiaras, Salammbo appeared 
upon a litter, over which a purple canopy was borne. 

A tremendous shout arose ; the cymbals and casta- 
nets sounded louder and louder, and the tambourines 
thundered as the grand purple canopy passed out of 
sight between the two gate-towers. 

It reappeared on the first landing. Salammbo walked 
slowly beneath it ; then she crossed the terrace to take 
her seat at the back part, on a throne carved out of 
a tortoise-shell. An ivory stool with three steps was 
placed under her feet ; on the edge of the first step 
two negro children kneeled, and occasionally she rested 
her arms, which were weighted with heavy bracelets, 
upon their heads. 

From her ankles to her hips she was enveloped in a 
network of tiny links, in imitation of the scales of a 
fish, and lustrous as polished mother-of-pearl. A blue 
zone clasped her waist, allowing her breasts to be seen 
through two crescent-shaped slashes, where carbuncle 
pendants hid the nipples. Her headdress was made of 


SALAMMBO 


363 


peacocks’ plumage, starred with jewels; a wide, ample 
fnantle, white as snow, fell behind her — her elbows 
were close against her body; her knees pressed to- 
gether ; circlets of diamonds were clasped on her arms ; 
she sat perfectly upright in a hieratic attitude. 

Her father and the bridegroom occupied lower seats. 
Narr’ Havas was robed in a golden-coloured simarre, 
and wore his crown of rock-salt, from beneath which 
escaped two locks of hair, twisted like the horns of 
Ammon; Hamilcar was attired in a tunic of violet, 
brocaded with golden vine leaves, and wore his battle- 
sword girt to his side. In the space enclosed by the 
tables, the python of the temple of Eschmoun lay on 
the ground between puddles of rose-oil ; biting its tail, 
it described a large black circle, in the centre of which 
was a copper column supporting a crystal egg, and 
as the sun shone upon it, prismatic rays emitted on all 
sides. 

Behind Salammbo spread the priests of Tanit, in 
flaxen robes. At her right the Elders, bedecked with 
their tiaras, formed a great golden line. On the left, 
the Rich, with their emerald sceptres, made a long 
green line ; and in the extreme background the priests 
of Moloch were ranged, and seemed, because of their 
mantles, like a purple wall. The other colleges occu- 
pied the lower terraces. The multitude filled the streets 
or were mounted on the house-tops, and reached in 
long rows to the summit of the Acropolis. 

Having thus the people at her feet, the firmament 
above her head, and around her the immensity of the 
sea, the gulf, the mountains, and the distant provinces, 
Salammbo, resplendent, seemed one with Tanit, and 
herself the prevailing genius of Carthage — its soul in- 
carnate. 

The festival was to last all night, and candelabra 


364 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


with many branches were planted like trees on the 
painted woollen tapestries that covered the low tables. 
Large flagons of electrum, amphoras of blue glass, 
tortoise-shell spoons, and small round loaves, crowded 
between the double row of plates bordered with pearls ; 
clusters of grapes with their leaves like thyrsi entwined 
vine-stocks ; blocks of snow were melting on ebony 
salvers ; lemons, pomegranates, gourds, and water- 
melons, were piled in hillocks beneath the tall, massive 
argentries; wild boars with open jaws wallowed in the 
dust of spices ; hares cooked whole, covered with fur, 
seemed to leap among the flowers; shells were filled 
with forced-meat ; pastries were in symbolic forms ; and 
when the dish-covers were removed doves flew out. 

Meanwhile, slaves with their tunics tucked up moved 
about on tip-toe ; from time to time the lyres sounded 
a hymn, or a chorus of voices arose. The hum of the 
people, continuous like the roar of the sea, floated 
vaguely over the feast, and seemed to lull it in a vast 
harmony. Many recalled the banquet of the Mer- 
cenaries ; they abandoned themselves to dreams of 
happiness ; the sun now began to decline, and the 
crescent moon was already rising in another part of 
the sky. 

Salammbo turned her head, as if some one had called 
her; the concourse, who watched her every movement, 
followed the direction of her gaze. 

At the summit of the Acropolis the door of the dun- 
geon, cut in the rock at the foot of the temple, had just 
opened ; a man stood on the threshold of this black 
hole. 

He came forth bent double, with the frightened air 
of a captive wild beast suddenly set free. The light 
dazzled him; he remained some minutes motionless. 
All had recognised him, and they held their breath. 


SALAMMBO 


365 


The body of this victim was for the populace some- 
thing specially their own, imbued with a splendour 
almost religious. 

They leaned forward, straining to see him, particu- 
larly the women, who burned to look upon the one 
who had caused the death of their children and hus- 
bands ; yet, despite themselves, in the depths of their 
souls there arose an infamous curiosity — a desire to 
know him completely, a longing blended with remorse, 
which turned into an excess of execration. 

Finally he advanced; the bewilderment of surprise 
vanished. Numberless arms were raised, and for the 
moment he was lost to sight. 

The stairway of the Acropolis had sixty steps ; he 
descended them, as if he were rolled in a torrent from 
the top of a mountain. Thrice he was seen to bound, 
then at the bottom he came down on his feet. 

His shoulders bled, his chest heaved with deep pul- 
sations, and he made such efforts to break the shackles, 
that his arms, which were crossed on his naked loins, 
swelled like the coils of a serpent. 

The place into which he now walked presented many 
streets. Along each street a triple barrier of bronze 
chains, attached to the navel of the Dii-Pataci, ex- 
tended in parallel lines from end to end. The crowd 
was packed against the walls and houses ; in the midst 
of the throng, the slaves of the Elders moved about, 
brandishing whip-thongs. 

One of these pushed Matho before him with a power- 
ful blow ; he began to move forward. 

The people stretched out their arms beyond the 
chains, shouting that he had been allowed too wide a 
path. He passed along, struck, pricked, mangled by 
all these revengeful fingers; when he reached the end 
of one street another appeared. Sometimes he threw 


366 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


himself to the side, striving to bite his tormentors; 
they would quickly draw back, and when the chains 
restrained him, they would burst out in peals of 
laughter. 

A child tore his ear ; a young girl concealing under 
her sleeve a spindle, with the point of it slit his cheek , 
they pulled out handfuls of his hair, tore strips from 
his flesh, and others held sticks on which were fastened 
sponges saturated in filth, with _ which they buffeted 
his face. 

A stream of blood gushed from the right side of his 
throat; immediately a frenzy began. This last Bar- 
barian represented to them all the Barbarians, all the 
army ; they took revenge on him for all their disasters, 
terrors and shame. The rage of the people increased 
with its gratification; the chains strained too tight as 
they leaned against them, threatening to part asunder. 
They were insensible to the blows the slaves dealt to 
force them back; some clung to the projections of 
the houses ; all the openings in the walls were choked 
up by heads, and the evil they were incapable of doing 
to his person they howled upon him. 

Their maledictions teemed with atrocities of obscene 
abuse, with ironical encouragements and imprecations ; 
and as they were dissatisfied with his present agonies 
they prophesied to him others more terrible yet for 
eternity. 

This vast howling filled Carthage with a stupid 
monotony. Often a single syllable, one intonation, 
harsh, profound, frantic, would be repeated for several 
minutes by the entire people. The walls vibrated from 
top to bottom, and both sides of the streets seemed 
to Matho to come against him, and rise from the 
ground like two immense arms, which suffocated him 
in the air. 


SALAMMBO 


367 


He remembered that he had previously experienced 
something similar. There was the same crowd on the 
terraces, the same fierce looks, the same rage ; but then 
he walked at liberty — all scattered before him, for the 
power of a god shielded him. This memory, gradually 
becoming distinct, brought to him a crushing sadness. 
Shadows passed before his eyes. The town whirled 
in a vertigo through his brain ; blood streamed from 
a wound in his thigh ; he felt himself to be dying ; his 
legs doubled under him, and he sank gently upon the 
pavement. 

Some of his persecutors took from a tripod in the 
peristyle of the temple of Melkarth a red-hot bar, 
slipped it under the first chain, and pressed it against 
his wound. The flesh was seen to smoke ; the yells 
of the people drowned his voice; again he stood up 
and advanced. 

Six paces further on, and a third, and yet a fourth 
time he fell : always some new torture goaded him up 
and on. Boiling oil was squirted through tubes upon 
him; fragments of broken glass were strewn under 
his feet; still he continued to walk. At the corner 
of the street of Sateb he leaned beneath the pent-house 
of a shop, with his back against the wall, and moved 
no further. 

The slaves of the Council struck him with whips of 
hippopotamus hide so furiously and long that the 
fringes of their tunics were soaked with sweat. Matho 
appeared insensible. Suddenly he started to run at 
random, emitting from his lips a shuddering noise, like 
one suffering from intense cold. Thus he passed 
through the streets of Boudes, the street of Soepo, 
crossed the vegetable market, and came into the square 
of Khamoun. 

From this point he belonged to the priests, and the 


368 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Elders’ slaves scattered the crowd ; here he had more 
space. Matho gazed around him, and his eyes en- 
countered Salammbo. 

At the first step that he had taken she had risen ; 
then involuntarily, according as he drew nearer, she 
had advanced gradually to the edge of the terrace. 
Soon, for her, all other external things were effaced: 
she saw only Matho. A silence possessed her soul, one 
of those abysses wherein the whole world disappears 
under the impression of a single thought, of one mem- 
ory — of one look. This man who was walking to- 
ward her fascinated her. 

There remained nothing except his eyes which re- 
tained a human appearance ; he was a long form com- 
pletely red ; his broken bonds, hanging the length of 
his thighs, were so bloody that they could no longer 
be distinguished from the tendons of his wrists, de- 
nuded of flesh ; his mouth remained open ; from his 
orbits issued two flames, which had the appearance of 
mounting to his hair — and yet this wretched creature 
still moved on. 

He arrived at the foot of the terrace. Salammbo 
was leaning over the balustrade ; those frightful eye- 
balls were staring at her; and within her awoke the 
consciousness of all that he had suffered for her. Al- 
though he was now agonised in his death-agony, she 
saw him in his tent, on his knees as he encircled her 
waist with his arms, babbling sweet speeches; she 
yearned to feel those arms again, and hear those words. 
She did not desire him to die. At this moment Matho 
was seized with a great tremor. She was about to 
shriek out, when he fell backward to the earth, and 
moved no more. 

Salammbo almost swooned ; she was carried back to 
her throne by the priests who pressed around her. 


SALAMMBO 


369 


They congratulated her : it was her work. All clapped 
their hands and stamped their feet, and yelled her 
name in universal acclamation. 

A man darted upon the corpse; although he was 
beardless, he wore on his shoulders the mantle of the 
priests of Moloch, and in his belt the sort of knife 
used to cut up the sacred meat, the haft terminating 
in a golden spatula. 

By a single stroke he split open Matho’s chest, tore 
out his heart, and placed it on the spatula ; and Schaha- 
barim — for it was he — raised his arm, offering it to 
the Sun. 

The sun was sinking behind the waves ; his rays fell 
like long arrows athwart the crimson heart. He sank 
beneath the sea as the throbbing diminished and as 
the last pulsation disappeared. Then from the gulf 
to the Lagoon, and from the isthmus to the lighthouse, 
in all the streets, over all the house-tops, and over all 
the temples, there went forth a single cry; sometimes 
it paused, only to be renewed ; the edifice trembled — 
Carthage was convulsed in the spasm of a Titanic joy, 
and a boundless hope. 

Narr’ Havas, intoxicated with pride, passed his left 
arm about Salammbo’s waist, in sign of possession ; 
and in the right hand he took a gold patera, and drank 
to the genius of Carthage. 

Salammbo arose, like her consort, grasping a cup in 
her hand, to drink also. She fell, with her head lying 
over the back of the throne, pallid, stiff, her lips parted 
— and her loosened hair hung to the ground. 

Thus died Hamilcar’s daughter, for having touched 
the Veil of T.anit. 




































































4 



















































. , 
























































































































■ 












APPENDIX 


USTAVE FLAUBERT was forty-one years old when 



this novel, regarded by many critics as his greatest 


^ ^ work, surprised the reading world. He had already 
startled that world with his Madame Bovary, which opened the 
way for later exploiters of the realistic type in fiction. By 
means of that book alone, it is possible to form an accurate 
conception of the poesy of realism as Flaubert understood 
it; but in 1858 the novelist set forth on the long and exten- 
sive journeyings that were to be the crown of his life, since 
they resulted in the marvellous creation of Salammbo. He 
went first to Tunis, and then to the ruins of Carthage, where 
he stayed for many months, searching with the eager per- 
sistence of an archaeologist among the mysterious ruins of the 
once stately city that was swept away by Scipio, no trace of the 
tragic fate of which remains except in the chronicles of 
Polybius, the Greek historian, friend of Scipio the Younger. 

Flaubert’s great historical romance was aptly called the 
true resurrection of ancient Carthage; and if anyone doubts 
the skill of the magician who has thus reconstructed the past, 
he has only to turn to the records of Polybius regarding the 
truceless war between the Carthaginians and the barbarian 
Mercenaries, whom they either could not or would not pay 
for their services, to realise how magnificent a spectacle Flau- 
bert raised as a setting to a war that most historians had 
always regarded as uninteresting. 

After the appearance of his Salammbo, the great French 
realist had much trouble with his critics. M. Sainte-Beuve, the 
foremost critic of his time, reproached him severely with 
lack of fidelity to facts, wild exaggeration, and inexcusable 


errors. 


To this criticism Flaubert replied in a letter which we append 
and which appeared in the public prints at that time (1862). 


372 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


This letter was almost a complete refutation of all Sainte- 
Beuve’s accusations. The critic had presumed to doubt the 
wisdom of applying to antiquity the methods of modern novel- 
writing; whereupon Flaubert flew into a fine frenzy of rage 
and scorn, and fought fiercely to prove the legitimacy of his 
offspring. This controversy provoked others ; but if any critic 
ventured to doubt a single description of Carthaginian arch- 
aeology or religion, Flaubert immediately brought forward 
some unquestionable authority of ancient days to crush the 
presuming person. 

Even if the novelist had given less attention to historic 
detail, if less care had been lavished upon the romantic parts 
of these idealised loves and lives amid the long and gloomy 
course of that terrible war, his work would endure. So much 
of magic is in its atmosphere, of truth in its delineation of 
passion and description of battles, of strength and simplicity 
in its wonderful pictures of a remote past, that it must be 
regarded as an immortal masterpiece. 


The Editor. 


THE FLAUBERX-SA1NTE-BEUVE 
CONTROVERSY 


HE distinguished French critic, M. Charles Augustin 



Sainte-Beuve, made an exhaustive study of Salammbo, 


* in his N ouveaux Lundis, vol. iv., page 31 (1862), and M. 
Gustave Flaubert answered his criticisms in the following let- 


ter: 


December, 1862. 


My Dear Master, — Your third article on Salammbo has 
“appeased” me (I never was very furious). My most in- 
timate friends were rather angry at the other two; but I my- 
self, to whom you have frankly told what you think of my 
heavy book, am grateful to you for having blended so much 
clemency with your criticism. Once more,, therefore, and 
very sincerely, I thank you for the evidence of affection that 
you show me, and, without ceremony, I begin my “ Apology.” 

First of all, are you quite sure — in your general judgment— 
that you have not yielded a little too much to your nervous 
impressions? The subject of my book — all this barbarous, 
Oriental, Molochistical world — displeases you “ in itself! ” You 
begin by doubting the reality of my reproduction, then you 
say to me : “ After all, it may be true ; ” and, in conclusion, 
“ So much the worse, if it is true ! ” You are astonished every 
minute ; and you are annoyed with me because you are 
astonished. But I cannot help it ! Should I have embellished, 
weakened, falsified, “ Frenchified ! ” But you yourself re- 
proach me with having made a poem, with having been 
“classic” in the bad sense of the word, and you assail me 
with “ The Martyrs ! ” 

Now, Chateaubriand’s system seems to me to be diametri- 
cally the opposite of mine. He began from a standpoint 
altogether ideal ; he dreamed of “ typical ” martyrs. I have 


374 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


tried to fix a mirage by applying the methods of the modern 
world to antiquity, and have tried to be simple. Laugh as 
much as you please! Yes, I say “simple,” not sober. Noth- 
ing is more complicated than a Barbarian. But I take up 
your articles in order to defend myself, and fight you foot to 
foot. 

At the outset I challenge you respecting Hanno’s “ Periplus,” 
which Montesquieu admired but which I do not admire at 
all. Who could now be made to believe that this is an “ origi- 
nal” document? It is evidently translated, abridged, cut, and 
arranged by a Greek. No Oriental, whoever he might have 
been, ever wrote in that style. I call to witness the emphatic 
and redundant Eschmounazar inscription ! Men who call 
themselves “sons of God,” the “eye of God” (see Hamaker 
inscriptions), are not simple, as you understand simplicity. 
And you will grant me that the Greeks had no comprehension 
of the barbaric world. If they had comprehended of it they 
would not have been Greeks. The Orient was repugnant to 
Hellenism. How they travestied everything foreign that fell 
into their hands! I will say the same of Polybius. So far 
as facts are concerned, I consider him an incontestable author- 
ity; but for anything that he did not see (or that he intention- 
ally omitted, for he too had a method and a school) I am well 
satisfied to seek elsewhere. Hanno’s “ Periplus,” then, is not 
“ a Carthaginian monument,” and is very far from being 
“ the only one,” as you say it is. The Marseille inscription, 
written in genuine Punic, is a genuine Carthaginian monu- 
ment. It is a simple one, I allow, for it is a tariff, and it 
is still less so than the famous “ Periplus,” in which a little 
corner of the marvellous makes itself seen through the Greek ; 
— were it only those gorilla skins, which were taken for human 
skins and were hung up in the temple of Moloch (translate 
Saturn), the description of which I have spared you, for 
which you should thank me! I will even tell you, between 
ourselves, that Hanno’s “ Periplus ” is really hateful to me, 
after reading and re-reading it with the four dissertations by 
Bougainville (in the Memoir es de V Academie des Inscrip- 
tions), without counting many a thesis for the doctorate — 
Hanno’s “Periplus” being a subject for theses. 


APPENDIX 


375 


As to my heroine, I do not defend her. According to you, 
she resembles “ a sentimental Elvira,” Velleda, or a Madame 
Bovary. But no ! Velleda is active, intelligent, European ; 
Madame Bovary is agitated by thronging passions ; Salammbo, 
on the contrary, remains riveted by a fixed idea. She is a 
maniac, a species of Saint Theresa. No matter! I am not 
sure of her reality; for neither you nor I, nor anyone, an- 
cient or modern, can know the Eastern woman, for the reason 
that it is impossible to be intimate with her. 

You accuse me of a lack of logic, and you ask: “Why did 
the Carthaginians massacre the Barbarians?” The reason is 
very simple : they hate the Mercenaries ; the latter fall into 
their power ; they are the stronger and they kill them. But 
“ the news,” you say, “ might have reached the camp from 
time to time.” By what means? And who would have 
brought it? The Carthaginians? But to what end? The 
Barbarians? But no more were left in the town ! Strangers? 
Indifferent persons, unconcerned? But I was careful to show 
that no communication existed between Carthage and the 
army ! 

With respect to Hanno (the “ bitch’s milk,” be it said in 
passing, is not a “jest;” it was, and still is, a remedy 
against leprosy : see the article on * Leprosy ” in the Dic- 
tionary of Medical Sciences; a bad article, too, the data of 
which I have rectified in accordance with my own observa- 
tions made at Damascus and in Nubia) — Hanno, I say, es- 
capes because the Mercenaries voluntarily allow him to 
escape. They are not yet furious at him. Their indigna- 
tion comes later with reflection; for they take a long time 
to comprehend all the perfidy of the Ancients (see the begin- 
ning of Chapter IV). Matho “prowls like a madman” round 
Carthage. Madman is the proper word. Was not love, as 
the Ancients conceived it, a madness, a curse, a disease sent 
by the gods? Polybius would be much “astonished,” you 
say, to see his Matho in such a condition. I do not think 
he would, and Voltaire would not have shared in this aston- 
ishment. Recollect what he says in Candide (in the old 
woman’s story) of the violence of the passions in Africa : “ It 
is fire, vitriol, etc.” 


376 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


As to the aqueduct : “We are here in improbability up to the 
eyes.” Yes, my dear master, you are right, and more so than 
you think — but not in the way that you think. I will tell 
you further my opinion of this episode, which was intro- 
duced, not for the sake of describing the aqueduct, which gave 
me a great deal of trouble, but in order to bring my two 
heroes suitably into Carthage. It is a reminiscence of an 
anecdote told by Polyaenus ( Stratagems of War), the story of 
Theodorus, Cleon’s friend, on the occasion of the capture of 
Sestos by the people of Abydos. 

“ One regrets the lack of a lexicon.” This is a reproach 
that I find supremely unjust. I might have overwhelmed the 
reader with technical words. Far from doing so, I have 
taken pains to translate everything into French. I have not 
employed one unusual word without following it up imme- 
diately with its explanation. I except the names of coins, 
measures, and months, which are indicated by the sense of the 
passage. But if you met with “kreutzer,” “yard,” “piastre,” 
or “penny” in a page, does that prevent you from under- 
standing it? What would you have said had I called Moloch 
“ Melek,” Hannibal “ Han-Baal,” Carthage “ Kartadda,” and 
if, instead of saying that the slaves at the mill wore muzzles, 
I had written “ pausicapes ”? As to the names of perfumes and 
precious stones, I was obliged to take the names in Theophras- 
tus, Pliny, and Athenseus. For plants I employed the Latin 
names, the accepted terms, instead of Arabic or Phoenician 
words. Thus I said “ Lawsonia ” instead of “ Henneh,” and 
even had the kindness to write “ Lausonia ” with a “ w,” which 
is an error, and not to add inermis, which would have been 
more exact. In like manner I write “ antimony ” for 
“ Kok’heul ” and spare you “ sulphurous,” ungrateful man ! 
But, out of regard for the French reader, I cannot write Han- 
nibal and Hamilcar without an “ h ” since there is a rough 
breathing on the “ a,” and as to adhering to Rollin — come, 
be reasonable ! 

As to the temple of Tanit,” I am sure of having recon- 
structed it as it was, from the treatise on the Syrian goddess, 
the medals belonging to the Duke of Luynes, the knowledge 
that we possess of the temple of Jerusalem, a passage by 


APPENDIX 


377 


Saint Jerome quoted by Selden ( de Diis Syriis), the plan 
of the temple of Gozzo, which is quite Carthaginian, and bet- 
ter than all the ruins of the temple of Thugga, which I saw 
with my own eyes, and of which no traveller nor antiquary, 
that I know of, has spoken. No matter, you will say, it is 
comic ! Be it so ! As to the description in itself, from a 
literary point of view, I myself consider it quite comprehen- 
sible, nor is the drama impeded by it, for Spendius and Matho 
remain in the foreground, and are not lost from sight. There 
is not an isolated, gratuitous description in my book; they 
are all subservient to my characters, and have an influence, 
immediate or remote, upon the action. 

I am also unable to accept the expression “ Chinese orna- 
mentation,” as applied to Salammbo’s chamber, in spite of the 
epithet “exquisite” which relieves it (as “devouring” does 
“dogs” in the famous dream), because I have not inserted a 
single detail which is not in the Bible, and which is not still 
found in the East. You repeat that the Bible is not a guide to 
Carthage (which is a disputable point) ; but the Hebrews were 
more akin to the Carthaginians than the Chinese, as you will 
allow. Moreover, there are climatic matters which are eter- 
nal. For the furniture and costumes I refer you to the pas- 
sages collected in the 21st Dissertation of Abbe Mignot 
( Memoires de VAcademie des Inscriptions , volume xl or xli, I 
forget which). 

As to this taste “for operatic effect, pomp, and emphasis,” 
why do you think that things were not so once— since they 
are so now? Ceremonial visits, prostrations, invocations, cens- 
ings, and all the rest were not invented by Mahomet, I 
suppose. 

It is the same with Hannibal. Why do you think that I 
have made his childhood “fabulous”? Is it because of his 
killing an eagle? A great miracle in a country where eagles 
abound! If the scene had been laid in the Gauls, I should 
have made use of an owl, a wolf, or a fox. But, Frenchman 
that you are, you are accustomed, in spite of yourself, to con- 
sider the eagle as a noble bird, as a symbol rather than as 
a living creature. Nevertheless, eagles do exist. 

You ask me where I got “such an idea of the Council of 


378 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Carthage”? But in all analogous circumstances at times 
of revolution, from the Convention to the American Parlia- 
ment, where only lately they were exchanging blows of sticks 
and revolver-shots, such sticks and revolvers were carried 
(like my daggers) in the sleeve of a great-coat. And my 
Carthaginians are more decent, too, than the Americans, since 
the public was not present. You quote against me a, great 
authority — Aristotle. But Aristotle, who was more than eighty 
years before my period, is of no weight here. Moreover, the 
Stagyrite is grossly mistaken when he asserts that “ neither 
riot nor tyrant was ever seen at Carthage.” Do you wish for 
dates ? Here are some : the conspiracy of Carthalon had 
taken place 530 b.c. ; the encroachments of Mago, 460 ; 
Hanno’s conspiracy, 337; Bomilcar’s conspiracy, 307. But 7 
pass Aristotle. Let us proceed. 

You reproach me with “the carbuncles formed of the urine 
of the lynx.” This is from Theophrastus, in his “Treatise 
on Precious Stones ” — and so much the worse for him ! I was 
almost forgetting Spendius. Well no, my dear master, his 
stratagem is neither “ odd ” nor “ strange.” It is almost 
stereotyped. It was provided me by yElian ( History of Ani- 
mals) and by Polysemus (Stratagems). It was even so well 
known since the siege of Megara by Antipater (or Antigone), 
that pigs were reared along with elephants, expressly that 
the big animals might not be frightened by the little ones. In 
a word, it was a common trick, and was probably a very 
hackneyed one in Spendius’s time. I was not obliged to go 
back to Samson; for I rejected as far as possible, all details 
belonging to legendary epochs. 

I come to Hamilcar’s riches. The description, whatever you 
may say, is in the background. Hamilcar predominates over 
it, and I believe it to be quite natural. The Suffet’s anger in- 
creases in proportion as he perceives the depredations that have 
been committed in his house. Far from being “beside himself 
the whole time” he does not break out until the end, when he 
meets with a personal insult. “ That this visit does not ren- 
der him prepossessing” is of no importance to me, since it was 
no part of my duty to panegyrise him ; but I do not think that 
I have “caricatured him at the expense of the rest of his char- 


APPENDIX 


379 


acter.” The man who later slays the Mercenaries in the way 
that I have shown (which is a nice feature in his son Hanni- 
bal in Italy), is just the same as he who has his goods adul- 
terated and his slaves flogged to death. 

You cavil at the “eleven thousand three hundred and ninety- 
six men ” in his army, and ask me, “ How do you know this 
number? who told it to you? ” But this you have just yourself 
seen, since I stated the number of men that there were in the 
the different corps of the Punic army. It is simply the total 
of the addition sum, and not one thrown in at random to 
give an appearance of exactness. 

There is neither “ malicious vice ” nor “foolery ” in my 
serpent. The chapter is a kind of oratorical precaution to 
modify the scene in the tent which, but for the serpent, might 
have caused an outcry. I preferred an immodest effect (if 
immodesty there be) with a serpent rather than with a man. 
Before leaving her house Salammbo entwines herself with 
the genius of her family, with the very religion of her coun- 
try under its. most ancient symbol. That is all. This may pos- 
sibly be “ unbecoming in an Iliad or a Pharsalia,” but I did not 
pretend to write either the Iliad or the Pharsalia. 

Neither is it my fault if storms are frequent in Tunis at the 
end of summer. Chateaubriand no more invented storms than 
sunsets, and both, it seems to me, belong to the whole world. 
Note, too, that the soul of the tale is Moloch, Fire, Thunder. 
The god is acting here under one of his forms ; he is subduing 
Salammbo. The thunder was, therefore, quite in its place ; it is 
the voice of Moloch, who is waiting outside. You will further 
acknowledge that I have spared you “the classic description 
of a storm.” And then my poor storm does not take up in 
all three lines, and those at different places ! The fire that fol- 
lows was suggested by an episode in the history of Massinissa, 
by another in the history of Agathocles, and by a passage in 
Hirtius— all three in analogous circumstances. I do not leave 
the atmosphere, or even the country, in which my action pro- 
ceeds, as you see. 

With reference to Salammbo’s perfumes, you credit me 
with more imagination than I possess. Pray smell and inhale 
Judith and Esther in the Bible! They were literally soaked 


380 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


and poisoned with perfumes. And this is what I was careful 
to say as soon as Salammbo’s illness was in question. 

Why, too, will you not allow that “ the disappearance of the 
Za’imph ” counted for “something” in the loss of the battle, 
since the army of the Mercenaries contained men who be- 
lieved in the Za'imph? I indicate the principal causes (three 
military movements) of this loss ; then I add the other as a 
secondary and ultimate cause. 

To say that I have “ invented tortures ” at the funeral of 
the Barbarians is not accurate. Hendreich ( Carthago , seu 
Carth. respublica, 1664) has collected passages to prove that 
the Carthaginians were accustomed to mutilate the corpses of 
their enemies ; and you are astonished that Barbarians who 
are vanquished, desperate, maddened, will not do the like to 
them, will not do as much on one occasion and on one occa- 
sion only? Need I remind you of Madame de Lamballe, the 
“Mobiles” in ’48. and of what is actually going on in the 
United States ? I have been, on the contrary, moderate and mild. 

And since we are speaking our minds to each other, I will 
frankly acknowledge, my dear master, that “ the Sadie pun- 
gency of imagination” hurt me a little. All your words are 
of weight, but such an expression from you when printed 
becomes almost a stigma. Do you forget that I have sat on 
the benches of the “ Correctionnelle” attainted of outrages 
upon morals, and that fools and villains find weapons in 
everything? Do not, therefore, be astonished if one of these 
days you read in some petty, slanderous journal, such as 
exist, something analogous to this : “ M. G. Flaubert is a dis- 
ciple of De Sade. His friend, sponsor, and master has said 
so plainly enough when criticising him, though With that sub- 
tlety and good-humoured raillery which, &c.” What could I 
reply — or do? 

I bow to what follows. You are right, my dear master; I 
have given the thumb-stroke, I have strained history, and as 
you well say I “wished to make a siege.” But, with a mili- 
tary subject, where is the harm? Besides, I did not alto- 
gether invent this siege; I only exaggerated it a little. That 
is the whole of my fault. 

But as to the “ passage in Montesquieu.” relating to the im- 
molation of children, I rebel. There is not a “ doubt ” in my 


APPENDIX 


381 


mind as to this horror. (Just remember that human sacri- 
fices were not completely abolished in Greece at the battle 
of Leuctra, 370 b.c.) In spite of the condition imposed by 
Gelon (480), two hundred children, according to Diodorus, 
were burnt in the war against Agathocles (302) , and for 
later periods I refer to Silius Italicus, Eusebius, and especially 
to Saint Augustine, who affirms that the thing was still some- 
times done in his time. 

You regret that I did not introduce a philosopher among 
the Greeks, a reasoner charged with giving us a course of 
ethics, and performing good actions — a gentleman in short, 

“ feeling • like ourselves.” But was this possible? Aratus, 
whom you recall to me, is the very model that I selected, 
when imagining Spendius; he was a man of escalades and 
stratagems, who killed sentries at night well enough, and 
found himself dazzled by the daylight. I denied myself a 
contrast, it is true; but it was an easy, contrast, a contrast 
laboured and false. 

I have finished the analysis and come to your judgment. 
You are perhaps right in your speculations on the application 
of the historical romance to antiquity, and it is quite possible 
that I have failed. Nevertheless, in accordance with all the 
probabilities, and with my own impressions, I believe that I 
have made something that resembles Carthage. But that 
is not the question. I laugh at archaeology! If the colouring 
is not accurate, if the details jar, if the morals are not de- 
rived from- religion, and the deeds from passions, if the char- 
acters are not coherent, if the costumes are not appropriate for 
use and the architecture for the climate, if, in short, there is 
not harmony, I am wrong — not otherwise. All depends upon 
that. 

But the atmosphere irritates you! I know, or rather, I 
feel this. Why, instead of remaining at your own personal 
standpoint — your lettered, modern, Parisian standpoint why 
did you not come over to my side? The human soul is not 
the same everywhere, whatever M. Levallois may say.* The 
slightest knowledge of the world will prove the contrary. I 
even believe that I was not so hard upon humanity in 

* This refers to one of his articles on Salammbo in the Opinion 
Nationale. 


382 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Salammbo as in Madame Bovary. The curiosity, the love 
which impelled me toward vanished religions and peoples, 
has in it something moral and sympathetic, it seems to me. 

As to style, I have sacrificed less to polish of phrase and 
period in this book than in the other. Metaphors are rare in 
it, and the epithets are positive. If I put the word “ blue ” 
before “ stone,” it is, believe me, because “ blue” is the proper 
word; and be equally assured that the colour of stones can 
be very well distinguished by starlight. Question all trav- 
ellers in the East on this point, or go there yourself and see. 

And, since you blame me for using certain words, “ enor- 
mous ” among others, which I do not defend (although ex- 
cessive silence may produce the effect of an uproar), I too 
have to reproach you for certain expressions. 

I did not understand the quotation from Desaugiers, nor its 
object. I knit my brows at Carthaginian “trinkets,” “deuce 
of a mantle,” “ ragout ” and “ all-spiced ; ” for Salammbo, who 
“ toys with the serpent,” at the “ handsome Libyan rogue,” 
who is neither handsome nor a rogue — and at Schahabarim’s 
“ libertine ” imagination. 

One last question, O master, and an improper one : why do 
you consider Schahabarim almost comical, and your Port- 
Royal worthies so serious? In my eyes, M. Singlin is dismal 
by the side of my elephants. I look upon tattooed Barbarians 
as being less anti-human, less peculiar, less comic, and less 
uncommon than people who live in common and call one 
another “Sir,” until death! And it is just because they are 
so remote from myself that I admire your talent in making me 
understand them. For I believe in Port-Royal, and am less 
desirous to live there than at Carthage. It, too, was exclusive, 
unnatural, strained all of a piece, and yet true. Why will 
you not admit the existence of two truths, two contrary ex- 
travagances, two different monstrosities? 

I am about to conclude. A little patience ! Are you cu- 
rious to know the enormous faults (“ enormous ” is in its 
place here) that I find in my book. Here they are: 

i. The pedestal is too large for the statue. Now as “too 
much ” is never a transgression, but “not enough ” is, one 
hundred pages more would have been needed, relating to Sa- 
lammbo alone. 


APPENDIX 


383 


2. Some transitions are wanting. They did exist ; but I cut 
them out or over-shortened them, fearing to be tedious. 

3. In Chapter IV everything relating to Gisco is of the 
same tonality as the second part of Chapter II (Hanno). The 
situation is the same, and there is no progression of effect. 

4. Everything extending from the battle of the Macaras as 
far as the serpent, and all Chapter XIII to the numbering of 
the Barbarians, sinks and disappears in the recollection. These 
are dull, transitory passages belonging to the background, 
which I was unfortunately unable to avoid and which make 
the book heavy in spite of the efforts after agility that I have 
been able to make. They are those which have cost me most, 
which I like least, and for which I am most grateful to 
myself. 

5. The aqueduct. 

Now for a confession! My secret opinion is that there was 
no aqueduct at Carthage at all, in spite of the actual ruins of 
the aqueduct. Accordingly, I was careful to anticipate all ob- 
jections by a hypocritical phrase addressed to archaeologists. I 
put my foot into it heavily, by recalling that it was a Roman, 
and at that time a novel, invention, and that the present 
aqueduct had been reconstructed upon the old one. The re- 
membrance of Belisarius cutting the Roman aqueduct at 
Carthage pursued me, and then it was a fine entrance for 
Spendius and Matho. No matter! my aqueduct is a piece of 
cowardice ! Conhteor. 

6. Another and last piece of trickery : Hanno. 

From love of clearness I have falsified history so far as it 
relates to his death. He was crucified, it is true, by the Mer- 
cenaries, but in Sardinia. The general crucified at Tunis, 
opposite Spendius, was called Hannibal. But what confusion 
this would have caused to the reader! 

Such, my dear master, is what, in my opinion, is worst in 
my book. I do not mention what I consider good. But be 
assured that I have not constructed a fanciful Carthage. The 
documents about Carthage are in existence, and they are not 
all in Movers. We must look a little further for them. Thus 
Ammianus Marcellinus furnished me with the exact form of 
a gate, the poem of Corippus (the Johanneis ) with many de- 
tails respecting the African colonies, &c. &c. 


384 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


And then my example will be little followed. So where 
is the danger? The Leconte de. Lisles and Baudelaires are 

less to be dreaded than the and the in this gentle 

country, France, where superficiality is a quality, and where 
the commonplace, the facile, and the silly are always ap- 
plauded, adopted, and adored. There is no risk of corrupting 
anyone in aspiring to greatness. Am I forgiven? 

I conclude by thanking you, once more, my dear master. 
While giving me scratches, you have very tenderly pressed my 
hands, and although you have laughed a little in my face, you 
have none the less made me three great bows — three very de- 
tailed and very considerable articles, which must have been 
more painful to yourself than to me. It is especially for this 
that I am grateful to you. The counsels at the close will not 
be thrown away, nor will you have had to do with one devoid 
of sense or gratitude. 

Sincerely yours, 

Gustave Flaubert. 

M. Sainte-Beuve replied to this letter by the following 
note : — 

December 25, 1862. 

My Dear Friend: I was waiting with impatience for your 
promised letter. I read it yesterday evening, and I am read- 
ing it again this morning. I no longer regret having written 
the articles, since I have induced you to bring out all your 
reasons in this way. This African sun has been singular in 
one respect, that it has in all of us caused an eruption of all 
our humours, even our secret ones. Salammbo, independently 
of the lady, is just now the name of a battle, of many battles. 
I intend to do this : my articles shall remain as they are, and 
when reprinting them I shall place your “Apology,” as you 
call it, at the end of the volume, without any further reply 
from me. I said everything; you replied; and the attentive 
reader must be the judge. That which I especially appreciate, 
and which every one will be sensible of, is that loftiness of 
mind and character which has enabled you to support my 
contradictions with perfect frankness, and which gains you per- 
force even higher esteem. M. Lebrun (of the Academy), who 
is a just man, said to me the other day concerning you: 


APPENDIX 


385 


“ A fter all, he will come out of it a greater man than he was 
before/’ This will be the general and ultimate impression. 

C. A. Sainte-Beuve. 

M. FrcEhner had criticised Salammbo very keenly in an 
article published in the Revue Contemporaine. In reply to his 
article M. Gustave Flaubert addressed the .following letter to 
the editor of the Revue Contemporaine : 

To M. Frcehner, Editor of the Revue Contemporaine. 

Paris, January 21, 1863. 

Sir: I have just read your article on Salammbo , which ap- 
peared in the Revue Contemporaine , December 31, 1862. In 
spite of my custom of replying to no criticism I cannot ac- 
cept yours. It is full of pertinence and of things extremely 
flattering to myself ; but as it throws doubt upon the sincerity 
of my studies, you will, if you please, permit me to notice 
several of your assertions here. 

I shall first, sir, ask you why you connect me so persistently 
with the Campana collection, asserting that it was my re- 
source and my permanent inspiration? Now, I had finished 
Salammbo in the month of March, six weeks before the 
opening of this museum. Here is an error already. We shall 
find other more serious ones. 

I make no pretence, sir, to archaeology. I issued my book 
as a romance without preface or notes, and I am astonished 
that a man rendered illustrious, as you are, by so considerable 
works, should waste his leisure upon such light literature! 
Nevertheless, sir, I know enough about it to venture to tell 
you that you are altogether wrong from one end of your 
work to the other, through the whole length of your eighteen 
pages, in every paragraph and every line. 

You blame me “for having consulted neither Falbe nor 
Dureau de la Malle,” by whom I, might have “ profited.” A 
thousand pardons! I have read them oftener, perhaps, than 
yourself, and on the very ruins of Carthage. It is possible 
that you may know “ nothing satisfactory about the shape, or 
about the principal quarters,” but others who are better in- 
formed do not share your scepticism. If we do not know 
the situation of the suburb of Adas, and the place called 


386 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Fuscianus, or the exact position of the principal gates of 

which we possess the names, etc., we are fairly well ac- 
quainted with the site of the town, the architectonic condi- 
tions of the walls, the Taenia, Mole, and Cothon. We know 

that the houses were coated with pitch, and that the streets 
were flagged ; we have an idea of the Anco described in my 
fifteenth chapter ; we have heard of Malqua, Byrsa, Megara, 
the Mappalian district and the Catacombs, of Eschmoun’s 
temple situated on the Acropolis, and of Tanit’s, a little to 
the right on turning the back to the sea. All this is found (to 
say nothing of Appian, Pliny, and Procopius) in the same 
Dureau de la Malle, with whom you accuse me of being 
unacquainted. It is therefore, sir, to be regretted that you 
did not “ enter into tedious details to show ” that I had 
no idea of the site and disposition of ancient Carthage, “ even 
less,” you add, “ than had Dureau de la Malle.” But what are 
we to believe? whom are we to trust, since up to the present 
you have not been kind enough to reveal your own system of 
the Carthaginian topography? 

I do not, it is true, possess any text to prove to you that 
there existed a street of Tanners, Perfumers, or Dyers. You 
will, at all events, acknowledge that it is a probable hypothesis. 
But I did not invent Kinisdo and Cynasyn, “ words,” you say, 
“ the structure of which is foreign to the genius of the 
Semitic tongues.” Not so very foreign, however, since they 
are in Gesenius. Almost all my Punic names, disfigured as 
they are in your opinion, having been taken from Gesenius 
( Scripture? Linguaque Phoenicia, etc.), or from Falbe, whom 
I have consulted, I can assure you. 

An Orientalist of your erudition, sir, ought to have shown 
a little more indulgence to the Numidian name Naravasse, 
which I write Narr’ Havas, from “ Nar-el-haoudh,” fire of 
the breath. You should have been able to guess that the 
two “ m’s ” in Salamnibo were employed expressly to ensure 
the pronunciation Salam and not Salan, and to suppose char- 
itably that Egates instead of yEgates was a typographical 
error, one, moreover, corrected in the second edition of my 
book, which appeared a fortnight before your advice. The 
same holds good of “ Scissitia ” for “ Syssitia,” and of the 
word Kabiri, which, horrible to relate ! has been printed 


APPENDIX 


387 


without a “ k,” even in the most serious work, such as The 
Religions of Ancient Greece, by Maury. As to Schalischim, 
if I did not write (as I ought to have written) Rosch-eisch- 
Schalischim, it was in order to shorten a word which was 
already too crabbed, not supposing, moreover, that I should be 
examined by philologists. But since you have descended to 
this cavilling at words, I will rebuke two others in you : 

(1) “Compendiously,” which you employ in a sense quite 
contrary to its own, to denote copiously, with prolixity, and 

(2) “ Carthachinesery,” an excellent jest, although it is not 
your own, but was picked up by you in a petty journal at the 
beginning of last month. You see, sir, that if you are some- 
times ignorant of my authors, I know yours. But it might 
have been better, perhaps, to neglect “these minutiae which,” 
as you very well say, “ do not admit Of critical examination.” 

One more, however ! Why did you underline the and in the 
following (somewhat mutilated) phrase from page 148: “Buy 
me Cappadocians and Asiatics.” Do you wish to shine by 
trying to make simpletons believe that I cannot distinguish 
Cappadocia from Asia Minor? But, sir, I am acquainted 
with it, I have seen it, I have walked in it! 

You have read me so carelessly that you nearly always 
misquote me. I have nowhere said that the . priests formed 
a particular caste; nor, on page 104, that the Libyan soldiers 
“ were possessed with a desire to drink iron,” but that the Bar- 
barians threatened the Carthaginians that they would make 
them drink iron; nor on page 103 that the guards of the 
legion “wore silver horns in the middle of the forehead to 
make them look like rhinoceroses,” but that “their big horses 
had, etc. ; ” nor on page 28 that the peasants amused them- 
selves one day by crucifying two hundred lions. The same is 
to be observed of the unfortunate Syssitia which I have em- 
ployed, according to you, “without knowing, doubtless, that 
the word denoted private corporations.” — “ Doubtless” is 
amiable. But, doubtless, I knew the nature of these corpora- 
tions, and the etymology of the word, since the first time that 
it appears in my book, on page 7, I translate in French, “ Sys- 
sitia, companies (of traders) who kept a common table.” You 
have even falsified a passage from Plautus, for it is not demon- 
strated in the Pcenulus that “the Carthaginians knew all 


388 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


languages,” which would have been a curious privilege for 
an entire nation; there is simply in the prologue, v. 112: “Is 
omnes linguas scit ; " which is to be translated : “ He knows all 
languages,” i.e., the Carthaginian in question, and not all the 
Carthaginians. 

It is not true to say that “ Hanno was not crucified in the 
Mercenary war, seeing that he commanded armies long after- 
ward,” for you will find, sir, in Polybius, that the rebels seized 
his person and fastened it to a cross (in Sardinia, it is true, 
but at the same period), Book I. chapter xvii. 'It is not, 
therefore, “ this personage ” who “ would have reason to com- 
plain of M. Flaubert,” but rather Polybius, who would have 
reason to complain of M. Frcehner. 

Regarding the sacrifices of children, so little “impossible” 
is it that they were burnt alive in the age of Hamilcar, that, if 
we are to believe Cicero ( Pro Balbo ) and Strabo (Book III), 
they were still burnt in the days of Julius Caesar and Tiberius. 
However, “the statue of Moloch has no resemblance to the 
infernal machine described in Salammbo. The figure, com- 
posed of seven compartments in stories one above another, 
for enclosing the victims, belongs to the Gaulish religion. M. 
Flaubert can make no pretext of analogy to justify his auda- 
cious transposition.” 

No ! I am without a pretext, it is true, but I have a text, 
the text, namely, and the very description of Diodorus of 
which you remind me, and which does not differ from my 
own, as you may convince yourself by condescending to read 
or re-read Book XX. of Diodorus, Chapter IV, joining with 
it the Chaldaic paraphrase by Paul Fage, which you do not 
mention, and which is quoted by Selden, De Diis Syriis , pp. 
164-170, together with Eusebius, Prceparatio Evangelica, Book I. 

How comes it, too, that history says nothing of the miracu- 
lous mantle, since you yourself say “ that it used to be shown 
in the temple of Venus, but much later, and only in the period 
of the Roman emperors?” Now, I find in Athenaeus, xii. 58, 
a very minute description of this mantle, although “ history 
says nothing about it.” It was bought from Dionysius the 
elder for 120 talents, was brought to Rome by Scipio ^Emil- 
ianus, was carried back to Carthage by Caius Gracchus, re- 
turned to Rome under Heliogobalus, and was then sold to 


APPENDIX 


389 


Carthage. All this is to be found again in Dureau de la 
Malle, by whom I have decidedly profited. 

Three lines lower you assert with the same — candour “ that 
most of the other gods invoked in Salammbo are pure inven- 
tions, ” and you add: “Who ever heard of an Aptoukhos?” 
Who? D’Avezac ( Cyrenaica ), referring to a temple in the 
neighbourhood of Cyrene ; “ of a Schaoul,” but this is a name 
which I have given to a slave (see my 86th page), “or of a 
Matismann?” He is mentioned as a god by Corippus (see 
Johanneis and Memoires de I’Academie des Inscriptions, vol. 
xii, p. 181). “Who does not know that Micipsa was not a 
divinity but a man?” Now, sir, that is what I say, and 
very clearly too, on that same page 86, when Salammbo calls 
her slaves : “ Help Kroum, Ewa, Micipsa, Schaoul ! ” 

You accuse me of taking Astaroth and Astarte for two 
distinct divinities ; but near the beginning, on page 45, when 
Salammbo invokes Tanit, she invokes her by all her names 
at once: “ Anaitis, Astarte, Derceto, Astaroth, Tiratha.” And 
I even was careful to say, a little farther, on page 49, that 
she repeated “ all these names without their having any dis- 
tinct signification for her.” Are you like Salammbo? I am 
tempted to think so, since you make Tanit the goddess of war 
and not of love, of the female, humid, fertile element, in spite 
of Tertullian and of this very name Tiranta, of which you 
will find a scarcely decent but very clear explanation in 
Movers, Phenic., Book I. p. 574. 

You are next amazed at the apes sacred to the moon, and 
the horses sacred to the sun. “ The details,” you are sure, 
“ are not to be found in any ancient author, nor in any au- 
thentic monument.” Now, for the apes I shall venture, sir, 
to remind you that in Egypt the cynocephalus was- sacred to 
the moon, as may still be seen from the walls of the temples, 
and that the Egyptian cults had made their way into Libya 
and to the oases. As to the horses I do not say that there 
were any sacred to ^Esculapius, but to Eschmoun, assimi- 
lated to iEsculapius, Iolaiis, Apollo, the Sun. Now, I find 
horses sacred to the sun in Pausanias (Book I, chap, i.), and 
in the Bible (2 Kings, chap, xxiii.). But perhaps you will 
deny that the temples of Egypt are authentic monuments, and 
the Bible and Pausanias ancient authors. 


390 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


Speaking of the Bible, I will take, sir, the great liberty of 
drawing your attention to Cahen’s translation, page 186, 
where you will read this : “ At their necks they wore, hanging 
to a gold chain, a little figure of precious stone which they 
called Truth. The debates were opened when the president 
set the image of Truth before him.” This is a passage 
from Diodorus. Here is another from Milan : “ The oldest 
among them was chief and judge of all; he wore round his 
neck a sapphire image. This image was called Truth.” It is 
thus, sir, that “ this Truth is a pretty invention of the author’s.” 

But everything astonishes you ; the malobathrum, which 
(may it please you) is equally well written malobathrum or 
malabathrum, the gold dust which is gathered to-day, as it was 
formerly, on the Carthaginian coast; the blue-painted ears 
of the elephants; the men who smear themselves with ver- 
milion and eat vermin and apes; the Lydians in women’s 
robes; the carbuncles of the lynx; the mandrakes which are 
in Hippocrates ; and the chainlet for the ankles which is in the 
“ Songs of Songs ” (Cahen, vol. xvi, 37) ; the waterings of sil- 
phium; the wrapped-up beards; the crucified lions, etc. 

Well ! no, sir, I have not “ borrowed all these details from 
the negroes of Senegambia.” For the elephants I refer you 
to the work by Armandi, page 256, and the authorities that 
he indicates, such as Florus, Diodorus, Ammianus, Marcel- 
linus, and other negroes of Senegambia. 

As to the nomads who eat apes, crunch lice, and smear 
themselves with vermilion, since you might be “ asked from 
what source the author derived these precise details,” and, 
according to your own confession, you would be “greatly 
at a loss to say,” I will humbly offer you some information 
that will facilitate your researches. 

The Maxyes . . . paint their bodies with vermilion. The 
Gysantes all paint themselves with vermilion and eat apes. 
Their women (those of the Andromachidas), if bitten by a 
louse, catch it, bite it, etc.” You will see all this in the 4th 
Book of Herodotus, chapters cxc, cxci, and clxviii. I am not 
at a loss to say this. 

The same Herodotus, in his description of the army of 
Xerxes, apprised me that the Lydians had women’s robes; 
moreover, Athenaeus, in the chapter on the Etruscans and 


APPENDIX 


391 


their resemblance to the Lydians, says that they wore woman’s 
robes; finally, the Lydian Bacchus is always represented in 
woman’s dress. Is this enough for the Lydian’s costume? 

The beards, wrapped up as a sign of mourning, are in 
Cahen (Ezekiel, chap, xxiv, 17), and on the chins of the 
Egyptian colossi, those of Abou-Simbal among others; the 
carbuncles formed by the urine of the lynx, in Theophrastus 
( Treatise on Precious Stones), and in Pliny, Book VIII., 
chap. lvii. And as to the crucified lions (the number of 
which you make two hundred, doubtless in order to ascribe 
to me an absurdity which is not mine), I pray you to read 
chapter xviii, in the same book of Pliny, where you will learn 
that Scipio ^Emilianus and Polybius, when walking together 
in the Carthaginian country, saw some which had been exe- 
cuted in this position, “ Quia cceteri metu pcence similis abster- 
rentur eadem noscia.” Are these, sir, some of those passages 
taken without judgment from the Univers Pittoresque, “and 
which superior criticism has employed with success against 
me?” Of v/hat superior criticism do you speak? Is it your 
own? 

You are considerably diverted by the pomegranates which 
were watered with silphium. But this detail, sir, is not my 
own. It is in Pliny, Book XVII., chap, xlvii. I am very sorry 
for it on account of your pleasantry about “the hellebore 
which ought to be cultivated at Charenton ; ” but as you say 
yourself, “the most piercing intellect cannot supply the want 
* of acquired knowledge.” 

You are completely in error when you assert that “more 
than one of the precious stones in Hamilcar’s treasury be- 
long to Christian legends and superstitions.” No, sir ! they 
are all in Pliny and Theophrastus. 

The emerald stelae, at the entrance of the temple, which 
make you laugh— for you are merry— are mentioned by 
Philostratus ( Life of Apollonius ), and by Theophrastus 
( Treatise on Precious Stones). Heeren (vol. ii.) quotes this 
passage from the latter : “ The largest Bactrian emerald is In 
the temple of Hercules at Tyre. It is a pillar of considerable 
dimensions.” Another passage in Theophrastus (Hill’s trans- 
lation) : “In their temple of Jupiter there was an obelisk 
composed of four emeralds.” 


392 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


In spite of your “ acquired knowledge,” you confound jade, 
which is a brown-green nephrite, and comes from China, with 
jasper, a variety of quartz which is found in Europe and 
Sicily. If you had happened to open the Dictionary of the 
French Academy, at the zvord “ jasper ” you would have learnt 
without going farther, that it is black, red, and white. You 
must then, sir, have moderated the transports of your un- 
governable raptures, and have abstained from playfully re- 
proaching my master and friend, Theophile Gautier, for having 
(in his Romance of the Mummy) given a woman green feet 
when he has really given her white ones. Thus it is not he 
but you who have made “a ridiculous mistake.” 

If you had less contempt for travelling, you might have 
seen, in the Turin Museum, the very arm of his mummy, 
which was brought back from Egypt by M. Passalacqua, and 
in the attitude described by Theophile Gautier, “that attitude 
which ” according to you “ is certainly not Egyptian.” And, 
without being an engineer, you would have learned what 
sakiehs are for bringing water into houses, while you would 
have been convinced that I had not misemployed black gar- 
ments by making use of them in a country where they abound, 
and where the women of the upper class never go out without 
being covered with black mantles. But, as you prefer written 
testimony, I shall recommend to you for everything concern- 
ing women’s dress, Isaiah iii:i8, the Mischna under the head- 
ing Sabbatho; 2 Samuel xiii:i8; Saint Clement of Alexan- 
dria, psed. II., 13, and the dissertations of the Abbe Mignot, 
in the Memoir es de I’Academie des Inscriptions, vol. xliii. And 
as to the abundance of ornamentation which amazes you so 
greatly, I was quite within my right in being lavish of it 
with peoples that incrust the floor of their apartments with 
gems. {Vide Cahen, Ezekiel xxviii, 14.) But you are unfor- 
tunate in the matter of precious stones. 

I conclude, sir, by thanking you for the amenity of the 
forms which you have employed — a rare thing nowadays. I 
have noticed only the grossest of your inaccuracies which 
touch on special points. As to vague criticisms, personal 
estimations, and the literary examination of my book, I have 
not even alluded to them. I have confined myself throughout 
to your own ground — science, and I once more repeat that 


APPENDIX 


393 


here I am indifferently strong. I know neither Hebrew, nor 
Arabic, nor German, nor Greek, nor Latin, and I do not 
boast of knowing French. I have often used translations, but 
sometimes originals as well. When in uncertainty I have con- 
sulted men who pass for being the most competent in France, 
and if I have not been “ better guided ” it is because I had not 
the honour, the advantage of your acquaintance. Pardon me! 
but if I had taken your advice should I have “ succeeded bet- 
ter”? I doubt it. In any case, I should have been deprived 
of the marks of kindness which you afford me here and there 
in your article, and I should have spared you the species of 
remorse with which it ends. But, sir, be reassured, and, al- 
though you seem to be yourself frightened at your vigour, 
and, seriously think that you have “ cut my book to pieces,” 
do not be “ afraid,” make yourself easy ! for you have not 
been “cruel” but — light. I have the honour to be, etc. 

Gustave Flaubert. 

(This appeared as an open letter in the Opinion Nationale, 
January 24, 1863.) 

M. Froehner replied to this letter by a second critique, dated 
January 27, 1863, which appeared in the Opinion Nationale, 
of February 4, 1863. M. Gustave Flaubert retorted in the fol- 
lowing letter addressed to the editor of the Opinion Na- 
tionale : — 

My Dear Monsieur Gueroult — Excuse me if I trouble you 
once more. But as M. Froehner is to reproduce in the Opinion 
Nationale what he has just published in the Revue Contem- 
poraine, I venture to tell him that — 

I have, indeed, committed a very grave error. Instead of 
Diodorus, Book XX., chap, iv read chap. xix. Another error. 
I forgot a passage referring to the statue of Moloch, in Dr. 
Jacobi’s mythology, Bernard’s translation, page 322, where he 
will see once more the seven compartments which rouse his 
indignation. 

And, although he has not condescended to give a single 
word or reply touching: (1) the topography of Carthage, (2) 
the mantle of Tanit, (3) the Punic names that I have dis- 
guised, and (4) the gods that I have invented, and has observed 


394 


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 


the same silence, (5) respecting the horses sacred to the sun, 
(6) respecting the statuette of Truth, (7) respecting the odd 
customs of the nomads, (8) respecting the crucified lions, and 

(9) respecting the waterings with silphium, together with 

(10) the lynx carbuncles, and (11) the Christian supersti- 
tions relating to precious stones; saying nothing also about 
(12) the jade and (,13) the jasper; without mentioning at 
further length all that concerns (14) Hanno, (15) the women’s 
costumes, (16) the robes of the Lydians, (17) the fantastic 
attitude of the Egyptian mummy, (18) the Campana Museum, 
(19) the inaccurate quotations from my book, and (20) my 
Latin, which he conjures you to believe false, &c. 

I am nevertheless ready with this, as with all the rest, to 
recognise that he is right, and that antiquity is his own private 
property. He may, therefore, amuse himself in peace with 
“destroying my edifice” and proving that I know nothing at 
all, as he did victoriously in the case of MM. Leon Heuzy and 
Leon Renier, for I shall not answer him. I am done with this 
gentleman. 

I withdraw a -word which appears to me to have vexed him. 
No, M. Froehner is not “light,” he is just the contrary, and 
if I have “ selected him as a victim from among the many 
writers who have depreciated my book,” it is because he had 
seemed to me to be the most serious of them. I was greatly 
mistaken. 

Finally, since he meddles with my biography (as if I were 
troubling myself about his!) by twice asserting (and he 
knows!) that I was six years writing Salammbo, I will con- 
fess to him that I am now not quite sure that I ever was at 
Carthage. 

It remains to both of us to thank you, dear sir, I for your 
having spontaneously opened your journal so unreservedly to 
me ; while as to M. Froehner, he must' be infinitely grateful to 
you. You have given him an opportunity of apprising many 
people of his existence. This foreigner was anxious to be 
known; now he is known — to advantage. With kindest 
regards. 


Gustave Flaubert. 















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